May 23, 2011
Tournament Website
GRAND FORKS, North Dakota - On the eve of the start of Utah Valley's attempt at its second straight Great West Tournament championship, the Great West Conference has announced its 2011 All-Conference Team.
Junior pitcher Jeremy Gendlek was named the conference's Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer of the Year while head coach Eric Madsen garnered his second straight Coach of the Year award. NYIT's Effrey Valdez, currently the No. 3 hitter in the country with a .438 average, was named the league's Player of the Year.
Gendlek posted a league-leading 1.65 ERA on the year and in GWC-only games, recorded a 5-0 record and a conference-best 0.41 ERA, allowing just two earned runs in six starts.
Senior outfielder Chris Benson, shortstop Kai Hatch and starting pitcher Blake Krahenbuhl joined Gendlek as first-team selections for UVU. Billy Burgess, Goose Kallunki, Alex Exon and Ryan Chadwick all earned second-team honors.
For Benson, it's the second time he was an first team selection while Krahenbuhl joins the first team after being a second-team selection as a freshman in 2010.
The Wolverines, back-to-back Great West regular season champions, begin the 2011 tournament on Tuesday at 10 a.m. CT/9 a.m. MT against No. 8 seed Chicago State, a team the handed UVU one of its only two losses in conference play. Utah Valley went 22-2 overall in the Great West in 2011 and is 48-4 all-time in the regular season and 4-0 in tournament play.
Last year, it took a Sage Thorpe, two-run double in the bottom of the ninth to give UVU a come-from-behind 9-8 win over Chicago State in the 2010 tournament opener. The Wolverines then defeated North Dakota (12-7) and Houston Baptist (9-2) before getting a 10-inning walk-off base hit to defeat Northern Colorado in the tournament championship 4-3.
The winner of Tuesday's tournament-opener will face the winner of the NYIT/NJIT game on Wednesday at 4 p.m. CT. Other first-round matchups will be No. 3 Houston Baptist vs. No. 6 Texas-Pan American and No. 2 Northern Colorado against host and No. 7 seed North Dakota.
The format will be a true double elimination tournament with Saturday's championship game at 4 p.m. CT.
