Bruins dominate North Star awards

NSAA Release

FOREST CITY, Iowa -- The Bellevue University baseball team took home all four major individual awards and placed 12 student-athletes on the first and second all-conference teams when the North Star Athletic Association announced its 2022 post-season awards winners.

Alec Ackerman took home NSAA Player of the Year honors after serving as the anchor in the three-hole of the Bruin lineup while playing outstanding defense at short. He is hitting .395 with a 1.226 OPS that includes team-leading totals of 16 home runs, 144 total bases, 35 extra-base hits, and 61 RBI. Additionally, he ranks second on the team with 59 runs scored, 75 base hits, 17 doubles, and a .758 slugging percentage. He has been successful in 7-of-8 stolen base attempts on the season.

Elijah Johnson earned the North Star Pitcher of the Year recognition after turning in one of the most dominating regular-seasons in conference history which featured him taking home NSAA Pitcher of the Week honors a program- and conference-record six times. While emerging as BU's ace, he has pitched to a 9-2 record with a 2.25 ERA and 125 strikeouts across 80 innings of work. His 0.850 WHIP would represent a single-season program record, his 14.06 strikeouts per nine innings would rank second all-time, and his strikeout total is currently tied for the eighth in a season.

Kanta Kobayashi collected the NSAA Newcomer of the Year award. Since the season began in February, Kobayashi has been a mainstay both in a flawless centerfield and atop the batting order. He is hitting .437 with an OPS of 1.157 which includes 28 extra-base hits along with team-leading totals of 90 hits, 75 runs scored, 18 doubles, and five triples. He has stolen 22 bases, already the most by a Bruin in a single-season since 2018, and his 90 base hits are the 12^th highest single season total in program history with plenty of baseball to still be played.

Duane Monlux was cited by his peers as the NSAA Coach of the Year. Monlux guided the Bruins to a 41-10 regular-season record, his ninth 40-win season at BU. led the Bruins to a 25-2 conference mark to win their third-straight NSAA regular-season title and fifth overall. The award marks the fifth time Monlux has won NSAA Coach of the Year honors, sixth team he's been conference Coach of the Year at Bellevue, and the ninth time he has been a conference coach of the Year in his 21-year career.

In addition to their individual awards, Ackerman, Johnson, and Kobayashi led a total of nine Bruins in landing first team all-NSAA honors. Also earning first team honors were Brenton Davis (.398 AVG, 1.283 OPS, 21 XBH, 41 RBI, 38 Runs), Alex Stufft (.340 AVG, .941 OPS, 22 XBH, 40 RBI, 43 Runs), Josh Vaughan (.394 AVG, 1.024 OPS, 15 XBH, 28 RBI, 42 Runs), Conner Barnett (.405 AVG, 1.089 OPS, 19 XBH, 46 RBI, 57 Runs, 14-16 SB), Blake Crippen (10-2, 2.95 ERA, 8.56 K/9, 61 IP), and McGrane Pledger (8-3, 3 SV, 4.61 ERA, 8.28 K/9, 66.1 IP). Vaughan, Barnett, and Pledger were all first team selections a season ago while the other six earned all-conference honors for the first team.

Zach Diehl (.294 AVG, .834 OPS, 19 XBH, 40 RBI, 40 Runs), Andrew Ishii (.368 AVG, 1.018 OPS, 19 XBH, 36 RBI, 39 Runs), and Mathieu Sirois (.291 AVG, .970 OPS, 17, XBH, 42 RBI, 32 Runs) were each named second team all-NSAA recipients.

Bruin players also took home six of the nine conference Gold Glove awards. Stufft (1B), Diehl (3B), and Ackerman (SS) comprised three of four infield spots, Kobayashi (CF) and Barnett (RF) accounted for two of three outfield spots, and Johnson (P) took home the pitching gold glove.

Alexandro Celiceo (5-1, 4.04 ERA, 8.66 K/9) and Bailey Link (1-0, 3 SV, 4.15 ERA, 9.35 K/9) each earned honorable mention all-conference nods and Cade Sakamoto (1.095 OPS, 4 XBH, 1-0, 1 SV, 8.69 K/9) represented Bellevue on the Champions of Character Team.

Bellevue (41-10/25-2 NSAA) opens the 2022 NSAA Tournament Friday at 9 a.m. against No. 8-seed Presentation College (5-42/3-21 NSAA). The Bruins are the top seed in the tournament and will host an NAIA Opening Round from Monday-Thursday, May 16-19 at Roddy Field.