Union garners several All-AAC honors; four earn first team accolades
Published 1:40 pm Thursday, May 9, 2019
BARBOURVILLE — The 2019 Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) baseball awards were announced Monday, and the Union College baseball team placed several members on the all-conference teams.
Ty Holmstrom, Luke Reinert, Nick Shumaker, and AJ Villa were named the All-AAC First Team, while Joe Gaines, Daniel Neal, and LoLo Williams collected All-AAC Second Team honors. Sinjin Shoop was award with Golden Glove honors, while Jake Mendoza was a member of the Champions of Character team.
Holmstrom hit a .330 this season during his second year in a Bulldog uniform. He led the Bulldogs with 12 home runs and 21 stolen bases, also tallying 48 RBIs, 60 hits, eight doubles, and a triple.
Reinert went the distance hitting six triples to land him on the All-AAC team, the lefty collected a .330 average, hitting four homers while bringing in 35 runners.
Shumaker led the AAC with a hitting percentage of .438 and is on pace to surpass the school record, which was .437 set back in 1999. The left-handed batter leads Union with 78 hits and 16 doubles, while also scoring 51 runners on base.
On the mound, Villa went the distance with an overall ERA of 2.89, with a 7-3 record and five complete games. Villa allowed only one homer during his season, striking out 83 batters.
Gaines was awarded to the second-team honors last season for the Bulldogs and continued to shine during his senior year. Gaines was only one of two players to appeared in all 50 games this season, posting a .341 average and collecting four homers and seven doubles.
Designated hitter Neal collected first-team honors for his senior year with a.340 batting average and leads the Bulldogs with 53 RBIs.
Behind the plate, LoLo Williams held it down while sporting a .377 batting average. Williams brought in a total of 36 RBIs, hitting nine doubles out of his 49 hits.
Shoop was near perfect for Union in the field earning him Golden Glove honors. The senior center fielder appeared in all 50 games for the Bulldogs with all 50 starts in center. He collected a .991 fielding percentage with just one error and 114 putouts.
The Bulldogs are 27-23 overall and advanced to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round after making it to the AAC Tournament championship game.