ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Mountain West regular-season champion University of New Mexico baseball team’s Jack Zoellner was named the Tony Gwynn Co-Player of the Year and Ray Birmingham was selected the Mountain West Coach of the Year when the conference’s postseason awards were released Thursday afternoon.
Zoellner, who shared the award with San Diego State shortstop Danny Sheehan, in Mountain West play hit .447 (second in the MW) with eight home runs (tied for third in the conference), 12 doubles (tied for sixth), 37 RBI (tied for third) and 30 runs despite playing in only 24 conference games before being hit with a pitch in the second-to-last series of the season and missing the final five games of the year. The senior first baseman also finished in the top three in slugging percentage (.796 – second) and third in on-base percentage (.508). It’s the second time Zoellner has been recognized as all-conference as he was named to the second team in 2015.
As for Birmingham, this is the third time the 10th-year Lobo coach has been named the Mountain West Coach of the Year with the other two years coming in 2012 and 2013. Birmingham led UNM to its fifth regular-season conference title in the last seven years.
Joining Zoellner on the All-Mountain West First Team is junior third baseman Carl Stajduhar (.420, 12 HR, 37 RBI and 40 runs in MW play) and sophomore Jared Mang (.432, five HR, 42 RBI and 39 runs in MW play). This is the third year in a row Stajduhar has earned all-conference honors (second in a row named to the first team) while this is Mang’s first all-conference honor.
UNM pitchers Tyler Stevens (5-4, 4.91 ERA, 66 strikeouts in 66 innings) and Johnathon Tripp (5-1, 5.75 ERA, 37 strikeouts in 56.1 innings) were named to the All-Mountain West Second Team. It’s the second all-conference award for Stevens and the first for Tripp.
Tony Gwynn Co-Players of the Year:
Jack Zoellner, 1B, Sr., New Mexico
Danny Sheehan, SS, Sr., San Diego State
Pitcher of the Year:
Brett Seeburger, LHP, Sr., San Diego State
Co-Freshmen of the Year:
Carter Bins, C, Fr., Fresno State
Bryson Stott, SS, Fr., UNLV
Coach of the Year:
Ray Birmingham, New Mexico
First Team
Adam Groesbeck, OF, Sr., Air Force
Bradley Haslam, 3B, Sr., Air Force
Aaron Arruda, 1B, Jr., Fresno State
Jesse Medrano, 3B, Sr., Fresno State
Ricky Tyler Thomas, LHP, Fresno State
Mark Nowaczewski, RHP, Jr., Nevada
Jared Mang, OF, So., New Mexico
Carl Stajduhar, 3B, Jr., New Mexico
Jack Zoellner, 1B, Sr., New Mexico
Tyler Adkison, OF, Jr., San Diego State
Dominic Purpura, LHP, Sr., San Diego State
Brett Seeburger, LHP, Sr., San Diego State
Danny Sheehan, SS, Sr., San Diego State
Second Team (*tie brings the total number to 15)
Tyler Jones, DH, Sr., Air Force
Nic Ready, 1B, So., Air Force
Edgar Gonzalez, RHP, So., Fresno State
Scott Silva, 2B, Sr., Fresno State
Jake Stone, OF, Sr., Fresno State
Justin Bridgman, SS, Sr., Nevada
Trevor Charpie, RHP, Sr., Nevada
Grant Fennell, UTL, Jr., Nevada
Tyler Stevens, RHP, Jr., New Mexico
Johnathon Tripp, RHP, R-Sr., New Mexico
David Hensley, OF/UTL, Jr., San Diego State
Alan Trejo, 2B, Jr., San Diego State
Shane Timmons, 1B, Jr., San José State
Ernie De La Trinidad, OF, R-So., UNLV
Justin Jones, 2B, R-Sr., UNLV
Zoellner, Birmingham earn MW top honors
