Eight UMSL Players Receive All-Conference Honors

Jim Reiter Named GLVC Player of the Year;

Jim Brady Named Coach of the Year

St. Louis, Mo. – The UMSL baseball team had eight players receive all-conference honors as four players were named to the GLVC first team and four more were named to the second team. In addition, head coach Jim Brady was named GLVC Coach of the Year and outfielder Jim Reiter (Troy, Mo./Troy Buchanan) was named GLVC Player of the Year in addition to being named a first team all-conference selection.

Reiter becomes the first UMSL player in any sport to receive GLVC Player of the Year honors since the school joined the GLVC. Reiter has been UMSL’s leading hitter all season and is currently has a .392 average going into Sunday’s GLVC Championship game. He leads the Rivermen with 69 hits and 56 runs scored on the season. Reiter also has 11 doubles, six triples, three home runs and 39 RBIs. He also finished second on the team with 17 stolen bases and was a constant defensive presence in centerfield.

In addition to Reiter, UMSL had three other players named to the All-Conference first team in shortstop Bryan Weiss (St. Peters, Mo./Francis Howell North), starting pitcher Greg Bierling (St. Louis, Mo./St. Louis University HS) and Tony Grana (Ballwin, Mo./Lafayette) was named as a utility player.

Weiss is UMSL’s second leading hitter with a .344 average and is second on the team in both home runs with seven, and in RBIs with 47. He is tied with Reiter for the team lead with 56 runs scored and has 64 hits on the season while going a perfect 11-for-11 in stolen bases. Tony Grana was the everyday second baseman for UMSL this year and hit in the leadoff spot, helping set the table for a team that has averaged 7.5 runs per game. Grana is hitting .314 on the season with a total of 59 hits. He is second on the team with 16 doubles while adding two triples, four home runs and 55 runs scored. He also added 33 RBIs and has 16 stolen bases on the season. Bierling was an all-conference selection for the second time in his career after being named to the second team in 2000 when he was also named conference Freshman of the Year. This season, Bierling is tied for the team lead for most wins with a 7-1 overall record and has a 2.68 ERA. He has started 12 games this year and has five complete games and two shutouts on the season. Bierling recorded 81 strikeouts in 90.2 innings of work while walking just 14.

The Rivermen also had four players named second team all-conference selections. Those players were first baseman Scott Sanders (St. Louis, Mo./Parkway North), outfielder Jason Barron (St. Louis, Mo./Hazelwood East), catcher Doug Wiles (Farmington, Mo./Farmington) and reliever Colby Hughes (Walnut Shade, Mo./Branson). Sanders is hitting .337 on the season, including a .397 average in conference games. He has 21 runs and 23 RBIs on the season and as a first baseman, made zero errors on the year. Barron is the team leader in home runs, hitting eight homers after getting two in one game yesterday, and also has 45 RBIs on the year. Barron hit .322 on the season and tied the school record earlier this year when he hit three home runs in one game during a win at Bellarmine. He also led the team in stolen bases this year with 20. Wiles hit .312 on the year for UMSL while helping lead a pitching staff that had a team ERA of 3.26. Wiles scored 31 runs on the season while knocking in 21 and has the third-best on base percentage on the team at .422. Colby Hughes leads the team with four saves on the year and has a 5-1 record with all five wins coming in relief. Hughes pitched 18.0 innings on the season and gave up just seven runs, four earned, while striking out 21 and had an ERA of 2.00. In conference games, he had an ERA of 0.00 ERA in 10.1 innings of work, giving up just six hits while striking out 15 in league games.

In addition to the player honors, UMSL’s Jim Brady was named GLVC Coach of the Year. He joins men’s soccer coach Dan King as the second UMSL head coach to receive GLVC Coach of the Year honors this season. This is the first time Brady has received Coach of the Year Honors since UMSL joined the GLVC after guiding the Rivermen to a first place finish in the regular season standings with a 23-7 record, a full six games over the second place team. UMSL is currently 38-13 on the season and have set a new school record with their 38 total wins. The previous school record was 37 wins set in 1996 when Coach Brady led the team to a 37-9 record and a bid to the College World Series.

 

2003 Baseball All-Great Lakes Valley Conference Selections

FIRST TEAM	SECOND TEAM
1B - Zac Bouland - Indianapolis	1B - Scott Sanders - Missouri-St. Louis
2B - Erik Peterman - Indianapolis	2B - Steve Polio - Bellarmine
3B - Kevin Sewell - Quincy	3B - Josh Perkins - Northern Kentucky
SS - Bryan Weiss - Missouri-St. Louis	SS - Chris Osterkamp - Northern Kentucky
UTL - Tony Grana - Missouri-St. Louis	UTL - Chip Wagner - Quincy
DH - Jason Kessler - SIU Edwardsville	DH - Matt Keener - Southern Indiana
OF - Jim Reiter - Missouri-St. Louis	OF - Dusty Stevens - Kentucky Wesleyan
OF - Steve Owen - Southern Indiana	OF - Jason Barron - Missouri-St. Louis
OF - Scott Mertes - Saint Joseph's	OF - Craig Ohlau - SIU Edwardsville
OF - Erik Kraemer - Wisconsin-Parkside	OF - Noah Wetzel - Southern Indiana
C - Wayne Astrauskas - Quincy	C - Doug Wiles - Missouri-St. Louis
SP - Brandon DeJaynes - Quincy	SP - Jason Bibelhauser - Bellarmine
SP - Brian Keating - SIU Edwardsville	SP - Blake Wyatt - Indianapolis
SP - Greg Bierling - Missouri-St. Louis	SP - Andy Augsburger - Saint Joseph's
SP - Brandon Brooks - Kentucky Wesleyan	SP - Brandon Kellback - Wisconsin-Parkside
RP - Brad Hinton - SIU Edwardsville	RP - Colby Hughes - Missouri-St. Louis

Freshman of the Year: Brandon Brooks - Kentucky Wesleyan

Pitcher of the Year: Brandon DeJaynes - Quincy

Player of the Yaer: Jim Reiter - Missouri-St. Louis

Coach of the Year: Jim Brady - Missouri-St. Louis