RMAC Baseball Postseason Awards Announced
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Colorado Mesa’s Julian Boyd and Harrison Rodgers join Metropolitan State University of Denver’s Tanner Garner as the 2023 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Co-Baseball Players of the Year, the league announced Wednesday. Their honor was announced alongside the league’s four other individual awards, the RMAC All-Conference rosters, the RMAC Gold Glove Team and the league’s honorable mention list. RMAC individual awards, all-conference teams and Gold Glove honorees are nominated and voted on by the league’s nine head coaches. Coaches are not permitted to vote for themselves or their student-athletes.
Boyd and Rodgers both earn shares of the RMAC Player of the Year honor after leading the Mavericks to their 11th-straight regular season title after closing the RMAC schedule with a 30-2 conference record and ranked the nation’s No. 1/5 team. Boyd ranks second in the conference with a 1.302 OPS and fourth in the league with 72 runs scored. Rodgers holds a team-high 74 hits with 28 extra-base hits while registering a .379 batting average. Boyd and Rodgers also earned spots on the all-conference first-team roster at the outfield and shortstop positions, respectively.
Garner also claims a share of the RMAC Baseball Player of the Year nod after leading the Roadrunners offense to a 25-7 conference record and a national ranking of No. 19/25. The senior is ranked No. 2 in the nation with a .457 batting average and No. 3 in the nation with 25 doubles on the season. In addition to the 25 doubles, Garner has eight home runs and 47 RBI on the season. Garner also claims a spot an all-conference first-team nod at the outfield position.
Colorado School of Mines’ Kevin Zapanta is the RMAC Pitcher of the Year after throwing down a 3-4 record in 11 appearances this season. The righty has registered 73 strikeouts and a conference-leading 3.45-earned run average over 60 innings of work this season. Zapanta also tossed two complete games this season on his way to earn a spot on the all-conference first team squad.
Mines’ Jackson Woolwine is the RMAC Freshman of the Year after a stellar debut season with the Orediggers. Woolwine logged 45 starts throughout the regular season and is tied for first on the Mines roster with 63 hits, including 38 RBI. The freshman registered a .377 batting average to go along with a .981 OPS. On the defensive side, Woolwine collected 103 putouts with a .981 fielding percentage.
CMU’s Liam Hohenstein claims the Freshman Pitcher of the Year award after making 12 appearances and nine starts in his first season with the Mavericks. He has seven wins over 48.2 innings and has struck out 52 batters throughout the 2023 campaign. He has only allowed 18 runs and helped Colorado Mesa claim the No. 1 spot in the RMAC Tournament.
Chris Hanks is the RMAC Coach of the Year after leading the Mavericks to their 11th straight regular season title. The Mavericks skipper became the 22nd coach in NCAA Division II history to reach 1,000 career wins back on March. 24, he is the eighth active coach to complete the feat.
Colorado Mesa leads the way in all-conference selections with 10 selections, while MSU Denver has nine honorees. Regis checks in next with four selections, followed by three honorees from CSU Pueblo. Adams State and Colorado Christian both collect two honorees a piece, while Mines and New Mexico Highlands round out the selections with one honoree apiece.
The Roadrunners lead the way on the RMAC Gold Glove team, with four selections. The Cougars, Mavericks, ThunderWolves, Rangers and University of Colorado Colorado Springs round out the defensive team with one honoree each.
The RMAC postseason schedule begins Wednesday, May 10, at the conference tournament, a four-day event hosted at Bus Bergman Sports Complex in Grand Junction, Colo. First up in tournament play is a showdown between second-seeded MSU Denver and fifth-seeded CSU Pueblo, beginning at 11 a.m. MT. Each round of tournament play will be streamed live on the
RMAC Network.
Co-Player of the Year: Julian Boyd, Colorado Mesa; Harrison Rodgers, Colorado Mesa; Tanner Garner, MSU Denver
Pitcher of the Year: Kevin Zapanta, Colorado School of Mines
Freshman of the Year: Jackson Woolwine, Colorado School of Mines
Freshman Pitcher of the Year: Liam Hohenstein, Colorado Mesa
Coach of the Year: Chris Hanks, Colorado Mesa
2023 RMAC Baseball First Team All-Conference
| Name |
Pos. |
Cl. |
School |
Hometown |
| Liam Hohenstein |
P |
Fr. |
Colorado Mesa |
Castle Rock, Colo. |
| Kevin Zapanta |
P |
Gr. |
Colorado School of Mines |
Denver, Colo. |
| Reichle Arcilise |
P |
Jr. |
MSU Denver |
Wheat Ridge, Colo. |
| Jack Slominski |
P |
Jr. |
MSU Denver |
Scottsdale, Ariz. |
| Anthony Durbano |
RP |
Gr. |
Colorado Mesa |
Riverdale, Utah |
| Jordan Medina |
C |
Sr. |
Colorado Christian |
Lone Tree, Colo. |
| Jake Williams |
1B |
R-Jr. |
MSU Denver |
Mariposa, Calif. |
| Cody Schultz |
2B |
Sr. |
MSU Denver |
Denver, Colo. |
| Mike Bathauer |
3B |
Jr. |
Adams State |
Kingman, Ariz. |
| Harrison Rodgers |
SS |
Jr. |
Colorado Mesa |
San Diego, Calif. |
| Matt Marlow |
INF |
Sr. |
Regis |
Flower Mound, Texas |
| Julian Boyd |
OF |
Sr. |
Colorado Mesa |
Los Angeles, Calif. |
| Tanner Garner |
OF |
Sr. |
MSU Denver |
Broomfield, Colo. |
| Ross Smith |
OF |
So. |
MSU Denver |
Broomfield, Colo. |
| Cam Yuran |
OF |
So. |
MSU Denver |
Centennial, Colo. |
| Zach Schuler |
DH |
Jr. |
MSU Denver |
Martinez, Calif. |
2023 RMAC Baseball Second Team All-Conference
| Name |
Pos. |
Cl. |
School |
Hometown |
| Kannon Handy |
P |
Jr. |
Colorado Mesa |
Herriman, Utah |
| Jacob Rhoades |
P |
Jr. |
Colorado Mesa |
Layton, Utah |
| Zach Pratt |
P |
Jr. |
CSU Pueblo |
Belton, Mo. |
| Mason Ashcraft |
P |
So. |
Regis |
Albuquerque, N.M. |
| Eric Cox |
RP |
Sr. |
MSU Denver |
Aurora, Colo. |
| Declan Wiesner |
C |
So. |
Colorado Mesa |
Castle Rock, Colo. |
| Reggie Williams |
1B |
Sr. |
CSU Pueblo |
Castle Rock, Colo. |
| Jonathan Gonzalez |
2B |
Jr. |
Colorado Mesa |
Brawley, Calif. |
| Colten Chase |
3B |
R-Sr. |
Regis |
Aurora, Colo. |
| Zach Daudet |
SS |
So. |
Regis |
San Diego, Calif. |
| Joseph Raker |
INF |
R-So. |
Adams State |
Magnolia, Texas |
| Gabe Ramos |
OF |
Sr. |
Colorado Christian |
Jurupa Valley, Calif. |
| Rob Sharrar |
OF |
Jr. |
Colorado Mesa |
Newbury Park, Calif. |
| Conrad Villafuerte |
OF |
Sr. |
Colorado Mesa |
Fountain Valley, Calif. |
| Christian Casteneda |
OF |
Jr. |
CSU Pueblo |
El Paso, Texas |
| Cobe Lehman |
DH |
Sr. |
New Mexico Highlands |
Caldwell, ID |
2023 RMAC Baseball Gold Glove Team
| Name |
Pos. |
Cl. |
School |
Hometown |
| Jordan Medina |
C |
Sr. |
Colorado Christian |
Lone Tree, Colo. |
| Mason Ashcraft |
P |
Sr. |
Regis |
Albuquerque, N.M. |
| Jake Williams |
1B |
R-Jr. |
MSU Denver |
Mariposa, Calif. |
| Cody Schultz |
2B |
Sr. |
MSU Denver |
Denver, Colo. |
| Zach Paschke |
3B |
Sr. |
MSU Denver |
Highlands Ranch, Colo. |
| Ronan Hella |
SS |
Fr. |
UCCS |
Albuquerque, N.M. |
| Conrad Villafuerte |
OF |
Sr. |
Colorado Mesa |
Fountain Valley, Calif. |
| Tanner Garner |
OF |
Sr. |
MSU Denver |
Broomfield, Colo. |
| Elijah Borjas |
OF |
Jr. |
CSU Pueblo |
Lakewood, Colo. |
2023 RMAC Baseball Honorable Mention
| Matt Bathauer |
Adams State |
| Kysen Howard |
CSU Pueblo |
| I-Ly Hsue |
Colorado School of Mines |
| Danny McDermott |
Colorado School of Mines |
| Andrew Hayes |
MSU Denver |
| Colin Stone |
MSU Denver |
| Ronan Hella |
UCCS |
| Vander Hodges |
UCCS |