ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) announced the recipients of their 2025 baseball awards on Wednesday. The awards are nominated and voted on by the UMAC baseball head coaches.
Aidan Russell of the Bethany Lutheran College Vikings was named the Player of the Year. The senior slashed .414/.525/.641 this year with a 1.166 OPS. He had 60 hits with 19 extra-base hits (12 doubles and seven home runs) and had 51 RBI. On the basepaths, Russell scored 52 runs and was a perfect 10-for-10 on stolen base attempts.
Trent Ash of the Bethany Lutheran Vikings was named the Pitcher of the Year. In 76.0 innings pitched this spring, the sophomore went 11-0 on the mound with a 2.96 ERA and 1.12 WHIP while holding opposing hitters to just a .185 batting average. Ash struck out 101 batters for an 11.96 K/9.
Xander Meissner of the Bethany Lutheran Vikings was named the Rookie of the Year. The freshman had a .381/.478/.735 slash line this past season with a 1.213 OPS. Of his 56 hits, 28 were for extra bases with 16 doubles and 12 home runs. Meissner drove in 55 runs at the plate and scored another 43 on the basepaths.
Bethany Lutheran head coach Ryan Kragh was named the Coach of the Year. In his 22
nd year at the helm, Kragh led the Vikings to a 30-13 overall record. In the UMAC, Kragh led Bethany Lutheran to a 19-2 conference record to win the UMAC Regular Season Championship for the third year in a row and the fourth time in program history.
The University of Northwestern Eagles won the team sportsmanship award, an accolade that is selected by the UMAC coaches and awarded to the team that best represents sportsmanship throughout the entire season.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Aidan Russell (Bethany Lutheran)
PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Trent Ash (Bethany Lutheran)
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Xander Meissner (Bethany Lutheran)
COACH OF THE YEAR
Ryan Kragh (Bethany Lutheran)
TEAM SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD
Northwestern Eagles
ALL-CONFERENCE FIRST TEAM
SP |
Trent Ash (Bethany Lutheran)
SP |
Nick Drinken (Northwestern)
SP |
Sean Gamble (Bethany Lutheran)
SP |
Adryen Tietz (Bethany Lutheran)
SP |
Jacob Van Dam (Crown)
SP |
Ryan Vondracek (Crown)
SP |
Ben Welle (UW-Superior)
RP |
Kevin Rahe (UW-Superior)
RP |
Breckin Silvain (Minnesota Morris)
RP |
Ty Vollmar (Bethany Lutheran)
C |
Teagan Burch (North Central)
C |
Gary Swann (Bethany Lutheran)
IF |
Bradie Black (Minnesota Morris)
IF |
Trevor Haberman (Minnesota Morris)
IF |
Xander Meissner (Bethany Lutheran)
IF |
Ben Meuser (Minnesota Morris)
IF |
Nolan Spence (Bethany Lutheran)
IF |
Kyler Thruston (Crown)
IF |
Tanner Voight (UW-Superior)
IF |
Parker Winghart (Martin Luther)
OF |
Benji Bruce (Northwestern)
OF |
Eli Fest (Bethany Lutheran)
OF |
Bryan Gerbers (Crown)
OF |
Josh Robb (Bethany Lutheran)
OF |
Trey Sybrant (UW-Superior)
OF |
David Steffen (Minnesota Morris)
OF |
Payton Steiner (UW-Superior)
UTL |
Christian Raya (Northwestern)
UTL |
Aaron Severson (Northwestern)
DH |
Aidan Russell (Bethany Lutheran)
ALL-CONFERENCE HONORABLE MENTIONS
Will Carlson (Bethany Lutheran)
Seth Jones (Bethany Lutheran)
Tyler Olson (Crown)
Aidan Volk-Specht (Crown)
Mark Vogel (Martin Luther)
Carlos Walta (Martin Luther)
Parker Gilchrist (Minnesota Morris)
Ethan Schmitz (Minnesota Morris)
Ridge Guyette (Northland)
Caden Willis (Northland)
Caleb Alfaro (North Central)
Dawson Barson (North Central)
Mark Bligh (Northwestern)
Beau Rabey (Northwestern)
Maxton Howell (UW-Superior)
Josh Pritchard (UW-Superior)
ALL-SPORTSMANSHIP
Kyle Cahill (North Central)
Drew Girtz (Crown)
Nolan Hemmesch (Northland)
Ben Leal (Minnesota Morris)
Mason McKellar (UW-Superior)
Xavier Palmer (Bethany Lutheran)
Carter Seltz (Martin Luther)
Colton Toutant (Northwestern)
The UMAC is an NCAA Division III member comprised of eight full-time member schools from Minnesota and Wisconsin: Bethany Lutheran College, Crown College, Martin Luther College, North Central University, Northland College, University of Minnesota Morris, University of Northwestern, and University of Wisconsin-Superior.
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