May 26, 2010

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . Sixteen Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) baseball players were named to the 2010 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-Central Region Team announced by the Association today. The IIAC honorees include four First Team selections, five Second Team selections and seven Third Team selections. In addition, two IIAC players were to the ABCA/Rawlings All-Central Region Gold Glove Team.

Buena Vista University senior outfielder Brandon Pietrzyk (Portland, Ore. Marshall), a repeat selection to the First Team, was joined by a pair of BVU teammates – junior catcher Kevin Kloewer (Omaha, Neb./Millard South) and sophomore pitcher Ryan Wuebker (Ayrshire, Iowa/Emmetsburg). Also making the First Team was Coe senior pitcher Alec Lewis (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain).

Claiming Second Team honors were Buena Vista junior pitcher Luke Probasco (Ankeny, Iowa/Ankeny), Coe freshman outfielder Nick Stein (Scottsdale, Ariz./Horizon), Simpson senior third baseman Scott Ethell (Knoxville, Iowa/Knoxville), and Wartburg junior Patrick Grau (Elkader, Iowa/Central) and senior utility player Billy Schmitt (Farley, Iowa/Western Dubuque).

Earning Third Team All-Region honors were Central sophomore shortstop Mike Furlong (Davenport, Iowa/Assumption) and junior outfielder Jarred Lackey (Somerton, Ariz./Cibola), Dubuque freshman shortstop Andrew Danna (Antioch, Ill./Antioch), Loras junior outfielder Calvin Rea (Cascade, Iowa/Cascade), Luther senior first baseman Ben Schott (Riverside, Iowa/Iowa City West) and senior pitcher Cody Hyland (Winnebago, Minn./Blue Earth Area), and Wartburg junior pitcher Brad Watson (Urbandale, Iowa/Urbandale).

Coe senior first baseman Pat Richmond (Algonquin, Ill./Dundee-Crown), and Buena Vista senior second baseman Michael Stephenson (Omaha, Neb./Skutt Catholic) were named to the Gold Glove Team

Four of the All-Region honorees have previously received similar recognition. Pietrzyk was a Third Team selection in 2008 and a First Team pick and Central Region Player of the Year in 2009. Grau and Richmond were on the Second Team, and Lackey was on the Third Team last year.

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