KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan baseball team placed five players on the Academic All-Mid-American Conference Team, the most by any university. A total of 19 student-athletes from the conference were honored.
Ethan Hollingsworth was named Academic All-MAC for the second straight season, while Chris Lewis, Pedro Dager, Billy Morrison and Joe Sheets also represented the Broncos. Hollingsworth and Lewis were both named to the All-MAC First Team at the end of the season, while Morrison and Dager were Second Team selections.
The Academic All-MAC honor is for a student-athlete who has excelled in athletics and academics. To qualify, a student-athlete must have at least a 3.20 cumulative GPA and have participated in at least 50 percent of the contests for that particular sport. First-year students and junior college transfers in their first year of residence are not eligible for the award. The number of honorees on the Academic All-MAC Team are the number that is set for the specific sport or 33% of the number of nominees, whichever is greater.
As a team, Western Michigan recorded a team GPA of 3.21 during the second semester, the highest in head coach Randy Ford's tenure. The Broncos have seen their academic progress improve every semester under Ford, and Western Michigan was honored for the second straight season by the NCAA for posting an Academic Progress Rate (APR) in the top 10 percent nationwide for its respective sport.
Ethan Hollingsworth, Junior, Joliet, Ill. (Plainfield South)
GPA: 3.72
Major: Pre-Management
Drafted in the fourth round (137th overall) of the MLB Draft by the Colorado Rockies ... First Team All-MAC and was named MAC Pitcher of the Week (4/7) ... Broncos' No. 1 starter, compiled a 5-5 record with a 3.84 ERA (fourth best in MAC), maintaining a 3.74 ERA in conference only games (third best in MAC) ... struckout 77 batters (third most in MAC) in 84.1 innings pitched (fourth most in MAC) ... held opposing hitters to a .262 batting average and issued just 26 walks ... 77 strikeouts ranks 11th best in a season at WMU, while his 197 career strikeouts ranks as the fourth most in school history ... threw at least 5.0 innings or more in each start and went 7.0 innings or more in seven of 13 starts ... struck out a season-high 10 batters against Miami and threw one complete-game shutout.
Chris Lewis, Junior, Ada, Mich. (Forest Hills Central)
GPA: 3.30
Major: Biomedical Sciences
Was one of two players from the MAC to be named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team, and was also named First Team All-MAC ... ranked second in the conference in batting average (.390), ninth in MAC only games (.378), led conference in on base percentage (.488) and ranked ninth in hits (71) and RBIs (49) ...struck out just eight times in 182 at bats, ranking him the 10th toughest strikeout in NCAA Division I, while batting average ranks 80th in the country and on-base percentage ranks 57th ... finished the season on a team season-high 15-game hitting streak ... hit eight home runs, 13 doubles, totaled 71 hits and scored 44 runs ...led WMU in RBIs, slugging percentage (.593) and ranked second in multiple RBI games (13), multi-hit games (22) home runs, hits and doubles ... batting average jumped .90 from first season.
Pedro Dager, Junior, Carcacas, Venezuela/San Ignacio
GPA: 3.54
Major: Computer Information Systems
Second Team All-MAC and was named MAC Player of the Week (5/5) ...maintained a .340 batting average ... hit four home runs, six doubles, driving in 24 runs, while scoring 26 runs ... had a .583 slugging percentage in conference play, .526 overall ... improved batting average .24 from last season ... went 4-for-5 in stolen base attempts.
Billy Morrison, Sophomore, Novi, Mich. (Novi)
GPA: 3.68
Major: Marketing
Drafted in the ninth round (282nd overall) of the MLB Draft by the Seattle Mariners ... Broncos' No. 2 starter, compiled a 6-2 record with a 4.76 ERA, going 4-1 in MAC play (fourth most MAC wins) ... struck out 43 batters in 81.1 innings pitched (fifth most innings pitched in MAC) ... held opposing hitters to a .267 batting average, .253 in MAC play (seventh best), and issued just 26 walks ... threw 6.0 innings or more in nine of 13 starts, and threw two complete-game shutouts ... struck out a season-high seven batters against Ball State.
Joe Sheets, Senior, Jackson, Mich. (Vandercook Lake)
GPA: 3.81
Major: Accountancy
Batted .286 with 10 home runs, 19 doubles (seventh most in MAC), four triples (fifth most in MAC), and scored 55 runs (seventh most in MAC) ... also led WMU in total bases (120), multi-RBI games (14), while ranking second in multi-hit games (22), and third in hits (63) and RBIs (39) ... 19 doubles ties for third most in a single season at WMU, while 55 runs scored ties for fourth most ... was 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts ... one of just four Broncos to start and play in all 53 games ... also a relief pitcher, Sheets maintained a 2.20 ERA, allowing just five runs (four earned) in 16.1 innings pitched, appearing in 11 games and holding opposing hitters to a .190 batting average.
