Baseball | 5/25/2021 2:42:00 PM

Dixie State placed five players on the 2021 All-Western Athletic Conference Baseball Team, as announced on Tuesday by the conference office based on voting completed by the league's head coaches.Senior outfielder Lane Pritchard and freshman catcher Kaden

Hollow each collected first team all-WAC honors, while senior first baseman Jake Engel, junior lefthander Jack Gonzales and freshman infielder Shane Taylor earned honorable mention recognition.

Pritchard has started in all 51 games he has played in this season and he is ranked in the top-20 in eight WAC categories. He is currently tied for fourth in the WAC in stolen bases (13-of-14), and he is ranked t-15th in both base hits (57) and doubles (11).

In all, 18 of Pritchard's 57 base hits have gone for extra bases, including six home runs, to go with 33 RBI (t-18^th WAC) and 34 runs scored (t-18^th WAC). Pritchard is batting owns a .315 batting average and has hit safely in 33 of 51 games played with a team-high 16 multi-hit outings, including eight three-hit games. In addition, he has driven in at least one run in 20 games, with a 30 of his 33 RBI coming in WAC play

The senior also leads the team with six outfield assists and has committed only one error in 112 chances (.991 FLD% - 19^th WAC).

Hollow has started in 49 of 50 games played this season, with 39 of those starts coming behind the plate. He is currently ranked in the WAC's top-10 in five offensive categories, including second in slugging percentage (.588), t-fourth in home runs (9), sixth in doubles (15) and on-base percentage (.437), and eighth in RBI (41).

The freshman backstop, who recorded a career and DSU team season high 14-game hit streak earlier this year, is batting a team-best .333 overall (#12 WAC) and has hit safely in 35 of 50 games played with 12 multi-hit outings. Hollow has also driven in at least one run in 20 games with 11 games with two or more RBI, highlighted by career day in DSU's road win at PAC-12 member Utah (9-7; 3/13), against which he went 4-for-6 with two homers and a career-high six RBI.

On the defensive side, Hollow has thrown out 12 of 48 possible base stealers and owns a .991 fielding percentage (20^th WAC), having committed just three errors in 330 chances.

Engel has started in 51 of his team-high 52 games played this season and begins the final week as Dixie State's season leader in home runs (10 – 3^rd WAC) and runs scored (40 – 10^th WAC), and is tied with Pritchard for the team lead in hits (57 – t-15^th WAC). The senior is also currently second on the team in batting (.328 – 14^th WAC), doubles (12 – t-12^th WAC), RBI (37 – t-12^th WAC) and slugging percentage (.580 – 4^th WAC), while he is ranked in the conference's top-20 in a team-high nine offensive statistical categories overall.

Four of Engel's team-high 10 homers have come in conference play, including his first collegiate grand slam in last Friday's home win over Northern Colorado. He followed that up the next day with his 32^nd-career home run in the UNC series finale last Saturday, which moved him atop Dixie State's career home run list. Engel also recorded a three-homer game at San Diego State (4/24) and hit four round-trippers in that three-game set overall.

Engel, who became DSU's first-ever First Team All-American following the 2019 season, heads into his final three collegiate games ranked in the top-10 in 15 DSU career stat categories. He needs only three more RBI (145) to become DSU's career RBI leader, and he is five hits shy (188) of moving into third place in career hits.  

After becoming a full-time reliever in early March, Gonzales has become one of the more dominant middle and late relievers, not only in the WAC, but in the West region. The junior southpaw has posted a 2-2 record with a 2.75 ERA and two saves in 21 relief appearances, including a 2-0 mark with a 2.36 ERA and two saves in WAC play.

He earned his first collegiate save vs. Seattle U (5/14) two weeks ago, against which he fired 3.2 innings of one-hit, shutout baseball with five punch outs. Gonzales also struck out five and notched his second save in the series opener vs. UNC last Thursday.

Gonzales is currently second on the DSU staff with 66 strikeouts, with 59 of those coming in relief, and he has fanned 45 WAC hitters in 26.2 IP (15.18 K/9) to go with a .179 opponent batting average and a .835 WHiP in conference play. He has recorded at least one strikeout in 22 of his 23 appearances overall, and has punched out at least three batters in 11 of those outings with five five-plus strikeout games. Gonzales is currently DSU's single season (14.48) and career (9.81) leader in K/9IP and will close his collegiate career in third place on DSU's career strikeouts list (153).

Taylor has enjoyed a breakout freshman campaign this season as he batted .287 in 49 games with four doubles, six home runs, 25 RBI and eight stolen bases (t-7^th WAC). He hit safely in 30 of 49 games played with 10 multi-hit games, including four three-hit games.

Since being inserted as the DSU lead-off hitter in game three at Sacramento State (3/27), Taylor has batted .316 (37-of-117) with five homers and nine total extra-base hits over his last 34 games. Two of his five home runs over this current stretch have been lead-off homers, and the freshman has scored two or more runs nine times. He tallied a career-high four runs scored vs. Seattle U (5/15), while 26 of his 33 runs scored on the year have come in WAC play. 

California Baptist outfielder Damon Keith was named WAC Player of the Year, while his teammate, pitcher CJ Culpepper, was tabbed as the league's Freshman of the Year. Grand Canyon hurler Pierson Ohl was named the WAC Pitcher of the Year, and GCU's Andy Stankiewicz was voted conference Coach of the Year.

Dixie State (23-30/21-15 WAC) will put a bow on its 2021 NCAA Division I debut season with a three-game road series at No. 7 Arizona this Thursday-through-Saturday, May 27-29, in Tucson.