2017 All-Heartland Team | 2017 All-Defensive Team
WACO, Texas -- Rogers State’s
Chris Miguel and Lubbock Christian’s
Ricky Contreras headlined the 2017 All-Heartland Baseball Team earning Player and Pitcher of the Year honors the conference announced on Wednesday. UA Fort Smith’s
Dion Williams was named Newcomer of the Year, and teammate
Logan Allen earned Freshman of the Year honors. LCU head coach
Nathan Blackwood was named the Coach of the Year.
RSU’s Miguel claimed
Player of the Year honors after leading the conference in batting average during conference play hitting at a .434 clip. For the season, Miguel hit .400 and led the conference in hits with 72. The senior was second in both home runs (9) and runs batted in (51). The California native also reached base at a .476 rate this season.
Lubbock Christian’s
Ricky Contreras was named the
Pitcher of the Year following up his Freshman of the Year honor a season ago. Contreras second in the conference among starters in earned run average with a 2.32 ERA this season. The sophomore from Lubbock earned nine wins this season in 14 appearances, including 7 wins in conference play and led LCU to its first Heartland Conference regular-season conference title. Contreras is currently fourth in the conference in strikeouts with 81 and averaged 8.61 strikeouts per 9 innings.
UA Fort Smith’s
Dion Williams was named the
Newcomer of the Year after leading the Lions to a second-place conference finish, their highest team finish in program history. Williams hit .357 during the regular season and .425 during conference play. Williams led the conference in triples with 11 nearly doubling the next highest total. He also brought in 41 RBI on 61 hits with 14 doubles and five home runs. The Kansas City native also swiped seven bases.
Williams’ teammate
Logan Allen earned
Freshman of the Year honors. It marks the first time a UAFS player has claimed the honor since Taylor Shaddy in 2011. Allen hit .325 this season in 49 games in the outfield for UAFS. His 13 stolen bases were fourth in the conference and he was caught just three times. Allen brought in 21 RBI on 63 hits with 22 extra-base hits including four home runs.
Lubbock Christian head coach
Nathan Blackwood was named the
Coach of the Year after leading LCU to its first regular-season title in the Heartland Conference. The Chaps went 19-5 in conference play and 36-12 overall in the regular season, closing out the conference title in a tight finish. Blackwood is 587-228 in 14 seasons at the helm of the Lubbock Christian program.
Lubbock Christian led the conference with eight All-Heartland selections including seven first teamers. The Chaps also landed five of the nine spots on the 2017 All-Defensive Team. St. Edward’s has six All-Heartland selections, and St. Mary’s had five selections. UA Fort Smith and Rogers State both earned four spots on the All-Heartland team.