KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan baseball team held its end of the year banquet where the team and coaches announced team award winners on Sunday, May 23 at Cityscape Events Center downtown Kalamazoo. Below is the list of winners along with the six seniors honored at the banquet.
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MVP: Tanner Allison, Junior, Portland, Mich.
Allison led the offensive charge this season, as the junior hit .368 with a team-leading 17 doubles, nine home runs and 66 RBI. Allison, who broke the WMU Single Season RBI record, finished fourth in the nation in RBI per game (1.32) and ninth in total RBI (66) while being named the MAC West Division Player of the Week three times this season.
MVPitcher: Kyle Mallwitz, Senior, Galesburg, Mich.
Mallwitz is 5-3 with a 3.80 ERA and leads the team with 87.2 innings and 73 strikeouts this season. The Broncos will look to Mallwitz to start in the MAC Tournament opener against Eastern Michigan on Wednesday.
Most Improved: Tyler Frank, Redshirt Senior, Adrian, Mich. & Andrew Stone, Redshirt Sophomore, Portage, Mich.
Frank is currently fourth on the team with a .325 batting average that includes two doubles, one triple, one home run and 18 RBI. Frank, who recently had a 15-game hitting streak come to an end, had five hits and five RBI combined in his previous three seasons before his senior campaign, where he's become the team's starting outfielder. Stone recently qualified to be the team's leader in batting average after becoming the team's starting DH midway through the season. He's batting a team-leading .381 with five doubles, 13 RBI and a .464 on-base percentage. Last season as a freshman, Stone went 3-for-10 all season in 14 games played.
WMU Coaches Award: Will Mullen, Sophomore, Rochester, Mich.
Mullen has been as hard-working and dedicated as they come for the Broncos squad, as the sophomore has done everything the coaches has asked of him all season long.
WMU also honored the seniors at the banquet, those being Grant Miller, Alex Goodwin, Nick Vogelmeier, Tyler Frank, Kyle Mallwitz and Gabe Berman. These six Broncos have helped the program amass 90 wins over the last four years, including Western Michigan's first ever MAC Tournament Championship in 2016, helping the team to reach its first NCAA Regional since 1989. This is the first group of seniors to make it to the MAC Tournament in all four years since the beginning of the tournament. WMU is 7-5 at the MAC Tournament over the last three seasons and this squad will look to add another MAC Championship this next week in Avon, Ohio.
