Upper Midwest Athletic Conference

Accolades continue for St. Scholastica in UMAC Baseball Awards

5/22/2012 11:41:10 AM

ST. PAUL – Despite the Saints’ season coming to an end at last week’s NCAA Regional Tournament, the College of St. Scholastica continued its postseason run on paper with eight Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) First Team All-Conference awards to lead all teams in the league. St. Scholastica earned two more honorable mention all-conference awards while boasting the UMAC Player of the Year and Co-Pitcher of the Year.

The Saints’ Kyle Flagstad was named the conference player of the year after leading league players who saw action in 10 or more games in individual batting, hits, runs batted in, triples and total bases. According to the NCAA’s latest national statistics ranking summary on May 13, Flagstad was ranked eighth amongst all Division III players in triples per game (0.19) and ninth in batting average (.451).

St. Scholastica’s Jake Nystrom and Bethany Lutheran College’s Garrett Benson were voted the UMAC Co-Pitchers of the Year.  Both players maintained an ERA below 2.0 in conference games, combing for a 9-1 record. Nystrom allowed just five runs in 23 innings pitched, while Benson was charged for eight earned runs in 44 frames. Between the two of them, Nystrom and Benson struck out 58 batters in league affairs.

Bethany Lutheran’s Adam Geiger earned UMAC Rookie of the Year honors. Geiger batted .353 with a .569 slugging percentage and .452 on-base percentage in conference contests. Northwestern College Head Coach Dave Hieb was voted the coach of the year following his team’s five-game improvement in the league schedule. The Eagles went 15-6 in 2012 after going 10-10 the year before.

Following St. Scholastica’s eight first team all-conference representatives, Bethany Lutheran had five first teamers. Northwestern had three members on the first team while Northland College and Presentation College each had two first team representatives.

Crown College won the team sportsmanship award, an accolade that is selected by the UMAC coaches to best represent sportsmanship throughout the entire season. Each team had one representative on the individual sportsmanship award list. The following participants best exemplified sportsmanship throughout the year:

Bethany Lutheran College: Jeremy Bade
College of St. Scholastica: Ben Grieger
Crown College: Isaiah Jensen
Martin Luther College: Joseph Blum
Northland College: Shane Ellias
Northwestern College: Monte Abeler
Presentation College: Chad Ellingson
University of Minnesota Morris: Mike McGill

1st Team All-Conference (Listed by Position)
Name	Institution	Year	Position
Garrett Benson	Bethany Lutheran College	Junior	P
Aaron Siefken	Bethany Lutheran College	Senior	P
Ben Grieger	College of St. Scholastica	Senior	P
Jake Nystrom	College of St. Scholastica	Junior	P
Andy Peterson	Northwestern College	Sophomore	P
Lucas Herd	Bethany Lutheran College	Freshman	OF
Kyle Flagstad	College of St. Scholastica	Junior	OF
Tom Juberian	College of St. Scholastica	Senior	OF
Zach Markwith	Northwestern College	Junior	OF
Tommy Kramer	Bethany Lutheran College	Senior	IF
Jake Casareto	College of St. Scholastica	Junior	IF
Parker Olson	College of St. Scholastica	Sophomore	IF
Peter Aerts	Northland College	Sophomore	IF
Cody Kielsa	Northwestern College	Junior	IF
Heath Giedt	Presentation College	Junior	IF
Casey Woodside	Bethany Lutheran College	Senior	C
Kyle Moody	College of St. Scholastica	Senior	C
Kyle Jensen	College of St. Scholastica	Junior	UT
Travis Hendrickson	Northland College	Junior	UT
Tyson Paulson	Presentation College	Junior	UT

Honorable Mention All-Conference (Listed by Institution)
Name	Institution	Year	Position
Adam Geiger	Bethany Lutheran College	Freshman	OF
Sam Stier	Bethany Lutheran College	Senior	IF
Isaiah Jensen	Crown College	Senior	OF/P
Brandon Nicholas	Crown College	Senior	OF
Thomas Rodgers	College of St. Scholastica	Sophomore	P
Andy Schwantes	College of St. Scholastica	Junior	IF
Aaron Stokke	Martin Luther College	Sophomore	OF/C
Jake Ziel	Martin Luther College	Sophomore	P
Brandon Bodart	Northland College	Sophomore	P
Matt Lennon	Northland College	Freshman	IF
Tyler Campion	Northwestern College	Senior	P
Mark Meredith	Northwestern College	Sophomore	OF
Chad Ellingson	Presentation College	Sophomore	OF
Sam Heintzman	Presentation College	Senior	P/IF
Nick Perrotte	University of Minnesota Morris	Sophomore	IF
Eric Terres	University of Minnesota Morris	Freshman	IF