The evening before the start of the 2012 Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship in San Angelo, TX, the six teams were treated to an awards banquet where the conference revealed the 2012 Lone Star Conference All-Conference and All-Academic Awards.
For the University of the Incarnate Word, the Cardinals had a player on every team and seven players total were recognized for their efforts this season.
Starting things out was the All-Academic team, where senior pitcher Ethan Lutz was named. With a 3.79 GPA in Computer Information Systems, the right-hander from Bandera earned his second LSC academic honor in as many seasons while also pitching to a respectable 6-3 record, as well as 2 saves and 34 strikeouts in 14 appearances.
The next awards announced were the 2012 All-LSC Honorable Mention, and two UIW newcomers – Jordan Littlefield and Slade Brown – were recognized for their on-field play.
Littlefield, a junior transfer from Midland College, played primarily at first base for the Cardinals this season, hitting .322 with 37 hits, including 4 doubles, a triple and 3 home runs, and led UIW in RBIs with 24.. He also had a .981 fielding percentage as he led the team in put-outs with 196.
Brown, a junior transfer from Eastfield Junior College and Abilene Christian University, had the second-best batting overage on the team with a .342 while starting 31 games for the Cardinals. He connected on 37 hits, including six doubles and two triples, and batted in 21 runs on the year.
The All-LSC 2nd Team also had two Cardinals on the squad, with freshman pitcher Dylan Boss and sophomore outfielder Derrick Walls being honored.
Boss, who hails from Boerne, TX, led Incarnate Word's pitching staff with a 2.32 ERA while getting a 3-3 record and 3 saves. He led the team in strikeouts with 60 and allowed only 13 earned runs against in 50.1 innings of work. Opposing batters hit .244 against him in his 15 appearances on the season.
Walls, meanwhile, started 38-of-39 games he saw action in for UIW in 2012, and was listed as the lead-off man for nearly every contest – hitting .317 with a team-high 45 hits (including 7 doubles and 3 triples) and stealing 14 bases. He also showed good patience with a bat in his hands, earning a team-high 26 walks. In the field, he was nearly flawless – getting credited with just one error all year for .985.
This is the second All-Conference award earned by Walls, as he was named the 2011 Freshman of the Year last season.
On the All-Lone Star 1st team, another duo of Cardinals was named as starting pitcher Marc Gomez and outfielder Jason Stone earned awards for their play.
Gomez, a junior from Corpus Christi, had the second-best ERA on the team with a 2.98 as he threw 57.1 innings (a team best) for a 5-1 record – including four complete games. He was second-best on the team in strikeouts with 59. Of the 29 runs scored against him, only 19 were earned and opponents had a .269 batting average against him.
Stone, a junior transfer from Texas State who hails from Georgetown, TX, led the team in batting average with a .396 and was second-best on the roster with 42 hits and 58 total bases. His slugging percentage is .509 while he struck out just 14 times in 106 at-bats. Additionally, he was charged with just two errors all season (for a fielding percentage of .944).
The Cardinals will take the field on Saturday in the opening game of the 2012 LSC Baseball Championships at 12 noon (provided the weather in San Angelo allows the games to start on time). UIW, the third seed with a 16-11 conference record, will go up against West Texas A&M University , the 4th seed.
UIW beat WT three out of the four times the two teams met this season – all at Incarnate Word's Sullivan Field – and have a 4-3 lead, historically, in the series.
The LSC Championships are double-elimination, and tomorrow's winner will play at 7 p.m. on Saturday against the winner of Texas A&M-Kingsville and Tarleton State. The loser will face off against the winner of the Angelo State University and Abilene Christian University game.
Angelo State is the No. 1 seed in the tournament. TAMUK is No.2, while Tarleton State and ACU are No. 5 and No. 6, respectively.
2012 Lone Star All-Academic Team
Ethan Lutz
2012 All-Lone Star Conference Honorable Mention
Jordan Littlefield
Slade Brown
2012 All-Lone Star Conference 2nd Team
Dylan Boss – Starting Pitcher
Derrick Walls – Outfielder
2012 All-Lone Star Conference 1st Team
Marc Gomez – Starting Pitcher
Jason Stone – Outfielder
