DICKINSON, N.D. — The Bellevue University baseball team took home four North Star Athletic Association major awards and landed 11 players on all-conference teams on Thursday evening at the end-of-season awards banquet.
Junior catcher Logan Grant (Chestermere, Alberta) earned NSAA Player of the Year honors one year after being named the NSAA Newcomer of the Year. Grant has terrorized opposing pitching staffs all season, batting .356 with an 1.162 OPS. He leads the league in home runs (18) RBI (63), and extra-base hits (34). His 67 hits are third in the conference as are his team-high 15 doubles.
Senior left-hander Blake Crippen (Hillsboro, Ore.) earned NSAA Pitcher of the Year accolades after being a first team all-conference selection each of the previous two seasons. Crippen is Bellevue’s all-time wins leader (28) and ranks among the career leaders in virtually every major pitching category. He has pitched to a 7-1 record with a 3.14 ERA and 1.24 WHIP across 57.1 innings this season.
Junior outfielder/first baseman Steven Elsner (San Francisco, Calif.) was voted as the NSAA Newcomer of the Year in his first season at BU. Elsner has batted .359 with an 1.185 OPS this year. His OPS, along with his 17 home runs and 57 RBI are all good for second in the conference while his 29 extra-bas hits rank third in the league. He is also a perfect 5-for-5 in stolen base attempts.
Duane Monlux collected NSAA Coach of the Year honors for the fifth-straight season. The award is the 11th conference Coach of the Year award for Monlux in 23 seasons as a head coach, dating to his time at Dickinson State. He guided the Bruins to a 36-12 (.750) regular season record and 21-2 (.913) mark in North Star play as BU collected their fifth-straight NSAA regular season title and secured the No. 1 seed for this weekend’s NSAA Tournament.
In addition to their player of the year awards, the trio of Grant, Crippen, and Elsner were each recognized as first team all-NSAA selections. Joining them in earning first team honors were senior first baseman Alec Ackerman (Parker, Colo.), sophomore shortstop Brendan Luther (Mississauga, Ontario), junior outfielder Jake Lacey (Gillette, Wyo.), sophomore outfielder Anthony Lind (Omaha, Neb.), and junior right-handed pitcher Teron Williams (Belton, Mo.).
Three more Bruins – senior right-handed pitcher Dustin Schorie (Chandler, Ariz.), junior second baseman Tyler Monroe (Lincoln, Neb.), and junior third baseman Nick Grade (Kennewick, Wash.) – earned second team all-NSAA honors.
Junior right-handed pitcher Brady Toth (Boise, Idaho) and junior infielder CJ Townsend (Eugene, Ore.) were honorable mention all-NSAA picks while junior outfielder Takumi Maeno (Fukuoka, Japan) was Bellevue’s Champion of Character representative.
Bellevue again led the NSAA in team defense, fielding at a .973 clip while averaging less than an error per game, turning 38 double plays, and throwing out 23% of would-be base-stealers. For their work with the leather, five Bruins were named to the NSAA Gold Glove team. Grant (C), Grade (3B), Luther (SS), Lind (RF), and Crippen (P) were all honored.
Below is the full list of Bellevue’s NSAA Award Winners:
Major Awards
Player of the Year – Logan Grant
Pitcher of the Year – Blake Crippen
Newcomer of the Year – Steven Elsner
Coach of the Year – Duane Monlux
First Team All-NSAA
C – Logan Grant (.356 AVG, 1.162 OPS, 18 HR, 63 RBI)
1B – Alec Ackerman (.429 AVG, 1.241 OPS, 8 HR, 40 RBI)
SS – Brendan Luther (.397 AVG, 1.107 OPS. 9 HR, 39 RBI)
OF – Steven Elsner (.359 AVG, 1.185 OPS, 17 HR, 57 RBI)
OF – Jake Lacey (.399 AVG, 1.155 OPS, 10 HR, 51 RBI)
OF – Anthony Lind (.336 AVG, .979 OPS, 8 HR, 24 RBI)
SP – Blake Crippen (7-1, 3.14 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 38 SO)
RP – Teron Williams (3-0, 2 Saves, 0.60 ERA, 0.53 WHIP, 14 SO)
Second Team All-NSAA
SP – Dustin Schorie (6-1, 3.63 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 58 SO)
2B – Tyler Monroe (.344 AVG, .955 OPS, 11 XBH, 8 SB)
IF – Nick Grade (.285 AVG, .765 OPS, 4 HR, 31 RBI)
Honorable Mention All-NSAA
SP/RP – Brady Toth (5-2, 4 Saves, 4.08 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 48 SO)
IF – CJ Townsend (.302 AVG, .857 OPS, 8 XBH, 23 RBI)
NSAA Gold Gloves
C – Logan Grant (2 pickoffs, 6 CS.977 Fielding %)
3B – Nick Grade (26 PO, 81 A, .955 Fielding %)
SS – Brendan Luther (46 PO, 119 A, .976 Fielding %)
RF – Anthony Lind (78 PO, 3 A, 1.000 Fielding %)
P – Blake Crippen (3 pickoffs, 13 A, .933 Fielding %)
Champion of Character
Takumi Maeno (.455 AVG, 1.289 OPS, 37 Runs, 9 SB)
