SAN BRUNO, Calif. – Senior outfielder Brock Hale was named Player of the Year, Mike Littlewood was named Coach of the Year and multiple BYU baseball players earned All-West Coast Conference honors, the conference announced Tuesday.
Hale joined sophomore infielder Jackson Cluff on the All-WCC First Team while sophomore outfielder/pitcher Mitch McIntyre and sophomore pitcher Easton Walker were named to the Second Team. Senior catcher Noah Hill and senior infielder Brian Hsu were named honorable mention while pitcher Reid McLaughlin was named to the All-Freshman Team.
Hale earns first-team honors for the second time after also doing so in 2018. He was also named honorable mention in 2017. The Mesa, Arizona, native is batting .340 this season with 67 hits, 48 runs, 44 RBIs and 36 walks to go with 14 doubles and 11 home runs. In conference play, Hale is batting .346 with 37 hits, including eight doubles and seven home runs. His WCC Player of the Year honor is the first for a Cougar and the first conference player of the year award won by BYU since Brandon Taylor in 2005.
In his seventh season at the helm, Littlewood led BYU to a third conference title and its first outright WCC title with a 19-8 record this season. The Cougars won seven of nine conference series, including three sweeps, on their way to the No. 1 seed in this week’s WCC Tournament. Littlewood has an overall record of 215-158 (.576) at BYU with a record of 111-75 (.597) in the WCC. The award is BYU baseball’s first coach of the year honor since Vance Law in 2001.
In his first season back from a church mission, Cluff hit .390 in WCC action with 39 hits, 36 runs, 35 RBIs, 13 doubles and seven stolen bases in 27 conference games. Also an outstanding fielder, Cluff had a .985 fielding percentage playing at shortstop this year.
McIntyre was a mainstay in left field for BYU and batted .306 with 33 hits, 25 RBIs, 16 runs, 11 walks, seven stolen bases, five doubles and four home runs. The lefty also pitched in six conference games without allowing an earned run, going 10.0 innings with seven strikeouts and a 1-1 record.
Walker, also in his first year back from a two-year mission, had a 2.74 ERA and 6-1 record in WCC play. In 49.1 innings, the sophomore allowed 15 earned runs and just 11 walks against 27 strikeouts.
Hill started in 25 conference games behind the plate, batting .300 with 27 hits, 21 walks and 20 runs with a .995 fielding percentage. Hsu, who has played almost every infield position for the Cougars this year, batted .308 in conference with 33 hits, 25 runs, 11 RBIs, three doubles and two home runs.
McLaughlin was 2-0 with two saves and a 3.21 ERA in 12 relief appearances for BYU in conference. The freshman went 28.0 innings, allowing 10 earned runs and six walks with 25 strikeouts.
Conference awards were voted on by the league’s 10 head coaches and were based on conference games only.