Crescent Valley grad had standout baseball season for the Wolves

Gazette-Times

MONMOUTH - Western Oregon University's Thomas McCarthy was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference freshman of the year.

McCarthy, a Crescent Valley High grad, led the GNAC with a .458 batting average, which was the second highest single-season average in conference history. The first baseman also finished atop the conference rankings with a .514 on-base percentage and a .600 slugging percentage.

Billy Clontz, a Corvallis High grad, was an all-conference selection at third base after finishing tied for sixth in the conference with a .362 batting average to go along with a .419 on-base percentage and a .514 slugging mark.

Former Oregon State pitcher Blake Keitzman was named pitcher of the year and Jeremiah Robbins was the coach of the year for the fourth straight season. Robbins coached the Richey's Market American Legion team in 2006.

Keitzman was also voted to the Daktronics Division II All-West Region first team; McCarthy was a second-team pick. McCarthy recorded hitting streaks of 12 and 13 games.

McCarthy will be in action this weekend when the Wolves host the West Region tournament with UC San Diego, Sonoma State and Cal State Dominguez Hills. UCSD is the No. 1 seed; WOU is No. 2, followed by SSU and CSU Dominguez Hills.

Western Oregon and Sonoma State play at 6 p.m. today.