(Sioux City, Iowa) – The 2018 Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Baseball All-Conference team has been announced after a vote of league coaches. The 2018 GPAC All-Conference Team consists of 17 first-team members and 18 second-team members, and an honorable mention list.
Nate DeChaine of Morningside was selected as the Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Player-of-the-Year and Nick LIttle from Concordia was selected as the Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Pitcher-of-the-Year. Brian Wede of Northwestern was named the 2018 Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Coach-of-the-Year. The 12th annual Hauff Mid-America Sports Gold Glove Team was also named.
Northwestern’s Zachary Rosson, Reed Smith and Dustin Gaither are 1st team honorees, while Christian Stekl, Noah McBride and Tanner Ortlund earned 2nd team nods. Matt Martin, Mitchell Kresnik, Victor Mena, Raphael DeHoyos and Michael Callahan are honorable mention. Kresnik is also a Gold Glove winner.
Colton Van Otterloo (Senior; Rock Valley, Iowa) earned first-team honors for the second year in a row and Josh Van Eps (Senior; Denver. Colorado)was a second-team pick after earning honorable mention last season. Taylor Neuroth (Senior; Sioux City, Iowa), Luke Drooger (Sophomore; Edgerton, Minnesota) and Isaac Vander Hart (Freshman; Pella, Iowa) were all honorable mention picks. Neuroth was a second-team pick in 2017 while Drooger and Vander Hart earn post-season honors for the first time in their careers.
Van Otterloo had a team high .362 batting average and also led the team in hits with 42, doubles with nine, triples with three, runs batted in with 27 and a .595 slugging percentage. Van Otterloo graduates with 147 career hits and 98 runs batted in with 23 doubles and a career .310 batting average.
Van Eps batted .282 with 31 hits and knocked in 13 runs. He threw out 12 would be base stealers. He graduates with 101 career hits, 18 doubles and 60 runs batted in in 130 games played.
Neuroth batted .286 with 38 hits and stole 16 bases. He leaves the Dordt program with 114 career hits and knocked in and scored 82 runs and stole 48 bases.
Drooger had two wins this season with a shutout and 44 innings pitched. He struck out 31 batters.
Vander Hart also had two hits and had a 3.42 earned run average with 22 strikeouts and he pitched 26 innings.
