The 15th ranked Missouri Southern baseball team was represented well on the All-MIAA team as a total of eight players earned honors, including Cody Hutchinson as the Pitcher of the Year and coach Bryce Darnell as the Coach of the Year when the league's post season honors were announced today.
Hutchinson leads the MIAA in wins and earned run average as the junior is 10-0 on the season with a 2.51 ERA, seven complete games, 73 strikeouts and only 16 walks. He also is tied for the league-lead in complete games with teammate Payton Walker. Hutchinson ranks fifth nationally in wins and complete games and is one win away from tying the MSSU record for wins in a single-season.
Walker, along with Hutchinson, was one of four Lions named to the first-team. This season, Walker is tied with Hutchinson for the league-lead in complete games, while leading the MIAA in WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched), while ranking third in strikeouts. He is 8-2 on the season and has also moved up the MSSU record books.
Walker now has 19 wins in his career and that moves him into a tie for fourth place all-time in MSSU history. His 183 strikeouts rank him fifth all-time, while his 32 games started rank eighth all-time. This is his third-straight All-MIAA nod after earning honorable mention as a freshman and a sophomore.
Joining Hutchinson and Walker on the first team are designated hitter Jesse Rall, and Chris Hoffman who was selected as a utility player, having seen time as both the starting center fielder and a member of the Lions' weekend rotation.
Rall led the team in home runs (15) and RBIs (54) this season and he ranked third in the league in both home runs and home runs per game, third in RBIs and second in slugging. He is one home run away from tying the single-season record at MSSU and also ranks 16th nationally in home runs and 24th in slugging.
Hoffman has been one of the most complete players in the MIAA this year. He is second in the league and leads the Lions with a .430 batting average, while ranking second in the MIAA in total hits. He leads the team in average, hits, runs, doubles triples, stolen bases and on-base percentage, while ranking second in RBIs and home runs.
Not to be done as a hitter, Hoffman was also a member of the Lions' weekend rotation this year, going 4-1 with a 4.19 ERA in five starts. He had two complete games, while striking out 23 and walking just four. He is a semi-finalist for the Tino Martinez Award, which is given annually to Division II's top player.
Richie Gorski was a second-team selection at third base. He was third on the team in batting average at .353, while ranking third in home runs (7), tied for second in RBIs (39) and second in stolen bases (7). He also ranked third in doubles with 11.
Tyler Burgess was a third-team selection as a pitcher. Burgess, in his first year after transferring from Missouri State, helped solidify a rotation that was easily the top pitching staff in the MIAA and one of the top in all of Division II. He ranked fourth in the MIAA in strikeouts with 73, while going 5-1 on the season with ten starts. He struck out 73 in 61.1 innings and walked just 15.
Earning honorable mention status were second baseman Jacob Bryant and relief pitcher Nick Pettus. Bryant came on late and hit .342 for the Lions, but was second on the team in average in MIAA games, hitting .357 with two home runs and 14 runs scored in conference play.
Pettus was tied for the team-lead with four saves, and had a 2-1 record with a 1.25 ERA. He struck out 21 in 21.2 innings pitched, while limiting batters to a .171 batting average. All four of Pettus' saves, however, came in MIAA play where the senior righty turned it on and held MIAA hitters to a .103 average and didn't allow a single run in conference action.
Darnell earns his first MIAA Coach of the Year Award after leading the Lions to the MIAA regular-season title. The team is ranked 15th nationally by the media and 17th by the coaches. Southern sits in third in the latest NCAA Division II Central Region rankings. The Lions are poised to break the school record this year for fielding percentage and they rank fourth nationally in that category.
Southern opens up the MIAA Tournament today at 11 am as the Lions play host to Washburn at Community America Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan.
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