By MATT PIKE
With the regular season in the rearview mirror, the MIAA Conference has announced it's regular season honors with the All-MIAA teams, as well as honoring defensive standouts on the Gold Glove team.
The Missouri Western State University baseball team had it's first winning season since 2019, and also earned it's first postseason berth since the same year. Seven Griffon players earned regular season honors, with two Third Team selections, one Gold Glove honoree, and four Honorable Mention picks.
Second basemen Seth Winkler and outfielder Micah Kobuszewski were named All-MIAA third team. Defensively, third baseman Issac Sobieszczyk was named to the Gold Glove Team. Starting pitchers Cole Evans and Cam Saleh, first baseman Miguel Cantu, and third baseman Luke Shannahan were named All-MIAA honorable mention.
MoWest will open the MIAA postseason tomorrow. The Griffons are the No. 7 seed and will face No. 10 seed Fort Hays State in the first roundat 1 p.m in Edmond, Oklahoma.
The Northwest Missouri State University baseball team had six selections on the All-MIAA squads. The Bearcats had four second-team picks, one tabbed to the third team and an honorable mention honoree. Northwest was chosen ninth in the preseason poll and finished fourth with a 25-11 MIAA record under second-year head coach Tony Jandron.
Starting pitcher Ben Haug, first baseman Jeremiah Cabuyaban, shortstop Wilmer Jimenez, and Bishop LeBlond alum, outfielder Frank Gall were named All-MIAA second team. Designated hitter John Connors landed third-team status, while outfielder Jordi Ventura collected the honorable mention spot.
Haug has a 5-2 record with a 4.98 earned run average in 12 starts. Haug struck out a team-high 69 batters and collected two saves. Haug was a two-time MIAA Pitcher of the Week and tossed a one-hit shutout of Northeastern State on April 18th. Cabuyaban clubbed 17 home runs with a .351 batting average. He owns a team-best 1.247 OPS, .741 slugging percentage and a .506 on-base percentage. He also drew 36 walks and was hit by 20 pitches. Cabuyaban drove in 52 runs and scored 55 runs.
Jimenez hit .332 and drove in 42 runs. He posted 20 extra-base hits, which included 11 doubles and seven home runs. Jimenez posted 65 hits and stole six bases. Gall, rounding out the second team honorees, topped the squad in batting average (.363), runs (73), hits (77), total bases (142), doubles (17), triples (6), RBI (53), sacrifice flies (5) and stolen bases (25). Gall set the single-season runs record at Northwest. Gall is four hits away from tying the Bearcat single-season hits record of 81. Gall is tied for fourth among NCAA Div. II active players in career triples with 13.
Connors drew a team-best 39 walks and hit .330 with 64 hits. He ranks second on the team in RBIs (52). Connors ripped 15 doubles and five homers and has reached base in each of his last 15 games entering the MIAA Tournament. Ventura is tied for the team lead in doubles (17). Ventura is second on the squad in hits (69). He ranked third on the team in batting average (.338) and home runs (9).
The Bearcats earned the No. 4 seed for the 2026 MIAA Tournament. Northwest will take on No. 5 seed Central Missouri Thursday at 10 a.m. in the quarterfinals.
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