With the end of the College Baseball season, in which Coastal Carolina became the National Champions, it is as good a time as any to look back at the fun and exciting season that the Lobo baseball team had. While the ending of the season was a disappointment, it showed us how close we are to breaking through to Omaha. Beyond that, Coastal Carolina’s championship shows that college baseball is a much flatter landscape than basketball or (especially) football, where teams from smaller conferences and fewer resources can still compete with the big boys.
For their part, the Lobos finished the season with a 39-23 record and finished second in the Mountain West with a record of 19-9. After that, they swept Mountain West Tournament here in Albuquerque to claim the auto bid to the NCAA Tournament. After winning the first game of the Lubbock Regional against Dallas Baptist, the Lobos had a lead late into the game against Texas Tech that would have given the Lobos a huge advantage to win the regional, but Texas Tech was able to come back and win. In their next game, the Lobos would fall to Dallas Baptist, which ended their season. While the end to the season might have come soon than we would have liked, it was still a very successful season filled with a lot of great performances by the team and some standout individuals. To recognize some of those performances, here are our end of the year awards:
Lobo Lane Awards:
Freshman of the Year: In the end, this award came down to two guys: Catcher Andrew Pratt and Pitcher Christian Tripp. Both players became key contributors by season’s end, with Tripp becoming one of the top two relief pitchers and Pratt becoming the everyday catcher. With all due respect to Tripp – and to outfielders Jared Mang and Austin Bell, who both had very good freshman seasons – in the end, the winner for this award is Andrew Pratt, who was also named a Freshman All-American. Pratt had a triple-slash line of .326/.369/.565 with 7 doubles, 5 Home Runs, 19 runs scored, and 16 runs batted in.
Defensive Player of the Year: The Lobo defense was very solid this season, with a team fielding percentage of .971. All positions aren’t created equal when it comes to defense, and someone in the middle of the field has more defensive value than someone at a corner position. While our pick for the award had the most errors on the team, with 13, he was the rock of the defense at shortstop and made some unbelievable plays. Winner: Dalton Bowers.
Pitcher of the Year: Starting pitching this season for the Lobos was very solid, with the weekend rotation being a constant with Colton Thomson, Tyler Stevens and Carson Schneider. On top of that, Alex Estrella had a fantastic senior season out of the bullpen. In the end, it was fifth-year senior Colton Thomson that took charge of the staff and was given the ball on Friday nights. Thomson finished with an 8-2 record, a 3.61 ERA in 94 2/3 innings pitched, with 82 strikeouts and only 27 walks. Winner: Colton Thomson.
Offensive Player of the Year: What a year for the Lobo offense! The Lobos had a team triple-slash line of .316/.410/.492, so there were quite a few great years at the plate. We will focus on three players for this award in Luis Gonzalez, Carl Stajduhar and Chris DeVito. Each player had a great year at the plate with Stajduhar leading the team with 18 Home Runs and 66 RBI, while Gonzalez lead the team with a .381 batting average, 63 runs scored, 21 doubles, and 5 triples, and DeVito hit .375 with 20 doubles, 16 Home Runs and 65 RBI. There is no wrong answer out of these as to who had the best offensive season for the Lobos, so we’re going to chicken out and just select all three of them. Winners: Carl Stajduhar, Luis Gonzalez, and Chris DeVito
MVP: In a year where there are so many deserving players, one player keeps coming up in so many different categories. He played great defense in center field, led off for this great offense, pitched in midweek games, and was 18 for 18 on stolen bases. With such a great sophomore season, I can’t wait to see what sort of season he puts together next year. Winner: Luis Gonzalez
News and Notes:
Lobos in the Pros:
The Lobos will lose Chris DeVito, who was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 8th round and signed for $125,000. The good news for the Lobos is that is the only unexpected loss so far this season. The Lobos did have an incoming recruit drafted in the 20th round by the Boston Red Sox, but my guess is that he should make it to campus. Besides those two, Alex Estrella was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 35th rounds and Colton Thomson was signed as a free agent by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Team USA:
Luis Gonzalez is looking to be the first Lobo since D.J. Peterson to make the US College National Team. If Gonzalez does make the team, look for him to have the sort of buzz that might get him drafted really early in next year’s MLB Draft. It would be a huge honor for Gonzalez and will help show the nation what kind of program we have.
Cape Cod:
The Lobos are well-represented at the best summer baseball league in America, the Cape Cod League. The Lobos have James Harrington, Tyler Stevens and Carl Stajduhar playing for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. This tends to be a great experience for college players, as it provides the opportunity to play against other top players and receive great training over the summer, so it will be exciting to see how these guys develop going into next season.