Five Yellow Jackets Earn All-HCAC Baseball Honors

GREENWOOD, IND. -- The Defiance College baseball team finished the season with five athletes on the All-Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference team that was released on Tuesday morning.

A trio of Yellow Jackets earned second team All-HCAC honors, as junior Michael Gilliland (Napoleon), senior Glen Collier (Zionsville, Ind.), and junior Troy Konwinski (Allen Park, Mich.) each earned the accolades.

Gilliland started in all 26 games that he played in 2018, leading the Yellow Jackets with a .380 batting average. The junior shortstop had one home run and three doubles on the season, finishing the year with 41 total hits. He drove in 17 runs and scored 27 of his own.

Collier led the Yellow Jackets with six home runs, hitting that number for the second consecutive season. His 12 homers in two years with the Purple and Gold puts Collier in a tie for sixth in DC history for career home runs. Collier finished the year as a .377 hitter in 29 games, hitting a team-leading 13 doubles. He was also second on the team with 25 RBI on the season. Collier also stole five bases on the year.

Konwinski split his time throughout the season on the pitcher's mound and at first base. The junior hit .305 on the season with four home runs and 10 doubles. He was among DC's best run producers, as he knocked in 30 runs and scored 18. On the mound, Konwinski recorded a 2-3 record with a team-high four saves. Through three seasons, Konwinski has eight saves and already sits third in DC history in the category. Konwinski finished with a 4.14 ERA in 45.2 innings of work. He allowed 30 runs, 21 earned, on 54 hits. He struck out 25 hitters on the year.

Sophomore Jon Brown (Haskins/Otsego) was named honorable mention All-HCAC. Brown was primarily used as a pitcher during the 2018 season, finishing the year with a 6-3 record in 11 appearances, nine of them being starts. Brown finished the season with a 3.62 ERA, allowing 35 runs, 24 of those earned, in 59.2 innings. Konwinski struck out 29 hitters and walked 22 and also finished the year with a pair of complete games.

Senior Mac Edwards (Kingston, Ont./Jefferson CC) was named to the All-HCAC Sportsmanship team for his actions on and off the field during his career at Defiance College. Edwards played in eight games during his senior season, batting .095 with two RBI and scoring one run, but walking six times to bump his on-base percentage up to .286.