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Baseball news
Wall, Burlea Head Cast of NWC Baseball Postseason Honors
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May 7, 2007
Mihai Burlea and Grant Wall head a list of 11 Northwestern College baseball players who earned GPAC postseason honors. Burlea took home GPAC Pitcher-of-the-Year accolades as the junior from Botosani, Romania, posted a perfect 10-0 mark. In six league games started, he went 6-0 with four complete games, two shutouts and posted a 1.98 ERA. Burlea also recorded one save. He led the GPAC in strikeouts (95) and is also Northwestern's single season leader in that category.
Wall, a sophomore from Mountain Lake, Minn., earned GPAC Player-of-the-Year honors. The shortstop led the league in runs scored (45), doubles (19) and total bases (99). Wall ranked second in the GPAC with a .717 slugging percentage and third in batting average (.413) and hits (57). He also was a perfect 14-14 in stolen bases this season.
Michael Janssen joins both Wall and Burlea on the first team. A senior designated hitter from Ackley, Iowa, Janssen hit .377 with three home runs and 31 RBIs. He was among the league leaders in runs (33), doubles (10) and walks (28).
Joe Heitritter and Jake Jansen earned second team all-conference honors. Heitritter, a junior outfielder from Boyden, Iowa, batted .339 with 31 runs scored and 17 RBIs. He totaled six extra base hits and posted a fielding percentage of .963. A sophomore first baseman from Oak Harbor, Wash., Jansen led the GPAC with a .464 batting average. He ranked first in hits (64) and was among the league leaders in runs scored (32), doubles (16) and RBIs (48). Jansen posted a slugging percentage of .703 and had 97 total bases this season.
Six Northwestern College baseball players earned honorable mention honors. Senior pitchers Jake Koerselman (Hospers, Iowa) (8-1, 3.88 ERA) and Dusty Meyn (Boyden, Iowa) (5-4, 3.44 ERA) were starters on a Red Raider pitching staff which sported the league's best ERA of 3.95. Koerselman ranked second in the league with eight wins. Junior Codie Zeutenhorst (Maurice, Iowa) batted .297 with a league best 11 home runs and 40 RBIs. He also threw out 18 base stealers this year. Justin Lane (Lancaster, Calif.)led the Red Raider bullpen with nine saves and a 2.30 ERA. In 15.2 innings, Lane struck out 21 batters. He also played third base and batted .267 with 27 RBIs. Austin Malone (San Diego, Calif.), a sophomore second baseman, batted .324 and ranked second on the team with 40 runs scored. Matt Gray, a freshman outfielder from Bright, Ont., batted .347 with 30 runs scored and was 13-14 in stolen bases.
Northwestern qualified for NAIA Region III Championship play with a 33-15 overall record. The sixth-seeded Raiders will play top-seeded Dickinson State on Wednesday, May 9, at 1:00 p.m. The regional championships will be played at Lewis and Clark Field in Sioux City, Iowa.
GPAC Release
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