The St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) announced the 2015 Baseball All-Conference awards in between game one and two of the SLIAC Tournament on Thursday, May 7. Westminster's Tyler Branneky was selected as the SLIAC Player of the Year and a First Team All-Conference member. The Westminster Blue Jays also had five other names on the All-Conference list including junior Deion Hughes on the All-Conference First Team, junior Will Miller and senior Cam Backes on the All-Conference Second Team, and senior Tim Chambliss and freshman Nick Bohlmann on the All-Conference Third Team.
Tyler Branneky, a junior third baseman from St. Louis, Mo., earned the SLIAC Player of the Year title and a spot on the First Team All-Conference. He batted .415 on the year off 44 hits and 106 at bats. Before post season play, he had six homeruns, three triples and nine doubles with a .726 slugging percentage and a .511 on base percentage. Branneky broke the Westminster season RBI record and currently sits with 44 runs batted in. He and Hughes are also tied for the Westminster career triples record with eight. He is on the verge of breaking five other career records. At third, he led the team with 64 asissts. Branneky earned SLIAC Player of the Week honors three times throughout the season, including two back-to-back weeks.
Deion Hughes, a junior pitcher and outfielder from Jefferson City, Mo., was the second First Team All-Conference recepient from Westminster. Heading into post season play, he leads the pitching staff and the SLIAC with a 1.11 earned run average (ERA). He is a part of the Westminster pitching staff that is currently leading the nation in the strikeouts-to-walks ratio. He is third in the conference with 64 strikeouts and has walked just nine batters. He holds a 7-2 record on the mound with five complete games, three shutouts and a save. Hughes broke the Westminster career shutout record this season and is currently tied with the career wins record with 17. He earned SLIAC Player of the Week honors for the week of April 27. From the plate, Hughes bats a .296 off 32 hits and 108 at bats. In the field, he has a perfect fielding percentage with 35 putouts and 13 assists.
Will Miller, a junior pitcher from Oakville, Mo., earned a spot on the Second Team All-Conference. He is second in the conference and on the team with a 1.32 ERA. He holds a perfect 6-0 record from the mound with 11 appearances and one complete game. He's spent 61.1 innings on the mound with 58 strikeouts. He is a part of the Westminster pitching staff that is currently leading the nation in the strikeouts-to-walks ratio. Miller was the first SLIAC Pitcher of the Week for the 2015 season.
Cam Backes, a senior second baseman from Tipton, Mo., is a Second Team All-Conference recipient. He held a .323 batting average in the 30 games he played. He had three homeruns and seven doubles. He successfully stole eight bases out of the nine he attempted. On the field, he maintains a .924 fielding percentage with 60 assists and 49 putouts.
Tim Chambliss, a senior first baseman from St. Louis, Mo., earned the second spot on the Third Team All-Conference. He batted a .339 with 39 hits and currently leads the team with 13 doubles. He has a .548 slugging percentage and leads the team with nine stolen bases. He also leads the team on the field with 256 putouts.
Nick Bohlmann, a freshman outfielder from St. Louis, Mo., was placed on the Third Team All-Conference list after batting .350 in his 29 games played. He had 28 hits with five doubles, a triple and a homerun. At the end of regular season, he had 20 RBI and a .475 slugging percentage. He ranked second on the team with a .429 on base percentage. In the outfield, he has 52 putouts.
The SLIAC also recognizes one individual from each team, selected by his coach and teammates, who throughout the season best displays the ideals of sportsmanship. Westminster's sophomore Tanner Branneky was placed on the SLIAC All-Sportsmanship Team.
The Blue Jays are currently in post season play at the SLIAC Tournament. They Blue Jays lost the first round of the tournament to Greenville with a 10-7 score. They will now face either Webster or Spalding at 8:00 p.m. tonight.
