The American Baseball Coaches Association and D3Baseball.com announced their All-Region Teams and Players of the Year for the 2016 year, and Westminster's Deion Hughes was selected as the 2016 ABCA/Rawlings Central Region Position Player of the Year. The Blue Jays also had three named to the Central-ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Teams and four named to the D3Baseball.com All-Central Region Teams.
Hughes and senior pitcher Collin Brinker were tabbed on the ABCA Central All-Region First Team, and junior Tanner Branneky was selected to the Second Team. On the D3Baseball.com list, Hughes was selected to the First Team. Ta. Branneky and Brinker were named to the Second Team, and senior third baseman Tyler Branneky grabbed a spot on the Third Team.
Deion Hughes
Hughes, a senior pitcher and outfielder from Jefferson City, Mo., was awarded the ABCA Central Region Position Player of the Year and a spot on the ABCA and D3Baseball.com All-Region First Team after decorating the Westminster record books and leading the team on the mound and at the plate. As a pitcher, he held a 12-2 record, setting the season wins record. He threw nine complete games, setting that record as well. He held a 2.42 ERA while striking out 90. At the plate, he batted a .392 with 60 hits and 44 runs scored. He brought in 31 runs while maintaining a .464 on base percentage. In the field, he recorded 27 putouts and 19 assists with a .979 fielding percentage. He was named the SLIAC Player of the Year and earned a spot on the SLIAC All-Conference First Team as a utility player.
Collin Brinker
Brinker, a senior pitcher from Auxvasse, Mo., was named to the ABCA All-Region First Team and the D3Baseball.com Second Team. He appeared in 17 games and held a 9-3 record on the mound. He held a 2.52 ERA while pitching four complete games and one shutout. His 82 strikeouts over 100.0 innings pitched helped lead the team to a 28-15 season record. He was named SLIAC Pitcher of the Year and earned a spot on the SLIAC All-Conference First Team.
Tanner Branneky
Tanner Branneky, a junior right fielder from Bridgeton, Mo., was named to the ABCA All-Region and D3Baseball.com All-Region after batting .343 on the season. He produced 49 hits including 14 doubles and 10 home runs. He recorded 43 RBI and 43 runs scored with a .664 slugging percentage. He was named to the SLIAC All-Conference First Team as an outfielder.
Tyler Branneky
Tyler Branneky, a senior third baseman from Bridgeton, Mo., was named to the D3Baseball.com All-Region Third Team. His name decorated the career record book as he broke eight records and has his name in the top five of three others. He held .301 batting average over the 43 games while producing 46 hits and 48 RBI. He grabbed 12 doubles and 10 home runs at the plate while holding a .463 on base percentage and a .601 slugging percentage. He was named to the SLIAC All-Confernece Second Team as an infielder.
The Westminster baseball team made their third NCAA Tournament appearance after taking the SLIAC Tournament title for the fourth time in program history. The Blue Jays finished the season with a 28-15 record, the best record since 2001.
