Baseball | 5/19/2025 4:01:00 PM

Utah Tech baseball landed three players on the 2025 Western Athletic Conference postseason awards list, which was announced by the league office on Monday.
 
Sophomore third baseman Ryan Kroepel was voted to the all-WAC first team by the conference's head coaches, while sophomore second baseman Kyle McDaniel and sophomore RHP Cade Montgomery collected second team honors. 
 
Kroepel closed the 2025 regular season as the WAC's second-leading hitter with a .387 batting average, including a conference-best .467 clip in league games. The sophomore hit safely in 42 of his 52 starts this season with a team-high 25 multi-hit games.
 
Kroepel ended the regular season with a career high 16-game hit streak, and a 20-game on-base streak. He wound up ranked in the WAC's top-14 in hits (75; t-3^rd), slugging percentage (.572; 8^th), on-base percentage (.458; 8^th), doubles (14; t-11^th), and triples (2; t-14^th).
 
In addition to his dominance at the plate, Kroepel was one of the top closers in the WAC. The sophomore posted a 3-2 record in 17 relief appearances and finished third in the conference with eight saves. His eight saves are ranked eighth and ninth, respectively, on Utah Tech's single season and career lists. 
 
McDaniel put together one of the best overall offensive performances in program history. The sophomore is currently riding a school NCAA Division I-era record 38-game on-base streak, during which he has reached safely with a base hit in 31 of those games with 21 multi-hit games including 11-straight and 22 of his last 23 starts overall.
 
McDaniel, who has reached base safely in 50 of his 52 starts overall this season, finished the regular season ranked third in the WAC in batting (.376), t-fifth in hits (74), fifth in on-base percentage (.458), and t-seventh in walks (33). The sophomore's current 38-game, on-base streak has moved him to within one game of tying all-time four-year era school record 39-game streak (Tanner Morache, 2016). 
 
Montgomery had established himself as one of the most dominant starting pitchers in the WAC this season before his season came to an abrupt end due to a foot injury suffered at Tarleton State back on April 25.
 
Montgomery, who finished the season as the WAC's ERA leader at 2.35 in 10 starts, was 4-2 with 48 strikeouts in 57.1 innings pitched, and held opposing hitters to a .222 batting average. He was also named to the 2025 College Baseball Foundation National Pitcher of the Year watch list this past April 18.

Montgomery, who is the lone WAC representative, was one of 54 pitchers from 20 NCAA Division I conferences throughout the country who were named to the midseason list. 
 
Utah Tech (23-29) will make its NCAA Division I-era postseason debut this Tuesday afternoon in the opening game of the 2025 University Credit Union Western Athletic Conference Postseason Baseball Tournament. 
 
The eighth-seeded Trailblazers will square against No. 5-seed California Baptist (30-26) in the second opening round, single-elimination game beginning at 5 p.m. (MT), at Hohokam Stadium (12,500) in Mesa, Ariz.