Brandon Taylor, a third baseman from BYU, was named Mountain West Conference Player of the Year Tuesday night at league ceremonies in Salt Lake City prior to the start of the MWC Baseball Tournament.
Joining the junior from Orem on the All-MWC squad were teammates Ryan Chambers and Ben Saylor from the outfield, first baseman Jeff Hiestand, and pitcher Dave Horlacher. The four position players were the only Cougar starters to bat above .400 in league play, helping BYU to a second place finish in the regular season. Taylor and Chambers were repeat selections from last year's team.
Taylor led the MWC (conference games) in slugging percentage (.858), RBI (54), home runs (13) and total bases (103). He was just one home run and three RBI shy of conference only season records in both categories. In overall games, he led the conference in RBI (80), home runs (20) and total bases (163). Taylor is just the fourth player in MWC history to have at least 80 RBI in a season (80). Overall, Taylor is the only player in the MWC to tally 20 home runs and 80 RBI and he also turned in a fielding percentage of .921.
Taylor broke national, MWC and school records. Taylor ranks third nationally in the latest NCAA statistics in RBI, 10th in home runs and 13th in slugging percentage. Taylor is second on the team with a .363 batting average.
Hiestand, a junior from Chino, Calif., ranks 23rd nationally in RBI, leads the team with a .386 batting average, and has been on base in his last 41 consecutive games.
Saylor, a junior from Sandy, ranks seventh nationally with his 23 doubles.
Chambers, a senior from Yucaipa, Calif., has been hitting with a vengeance lately, having a current hitting streak of seven games to raise his batting average to .348.
Horlacher, a junior from St. George, posted a 5-2 record with a 3.99 earned run average, having started the past 14 weeks for BYU as its lead pitcher.
The All-MWC team was selected by the league's head coaches. Regular-season champion UNLV and San Diego State headlined this year's all-conference squad with seven selections each. BYU had five student-athletes on the all-conference team, while New Mexico and Utah had four and three honorees, respectively. This year's team was made up of seven seniors, 10 juniors, seven sophomores and two freshmen.