Baseball 5/9/2024 12:00:00 AM

SVSU's Jatczak and WSU's Fitzpatrick earn top baseball awards; All-GLIAC teams announced

LANSING, Mich. -- The Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) announced its 2024 All-GLIAC Baseball Teams and postseason awards in conjunction with the conference's annual tournament, held at the Jackson Field in Lansing, Mich. The awards were voted on by the conference baseball coaches.

Hayden Jatczak, from the GLIAC regular season champion Saginaw Valley State Cardinals, earned player of the year honors.

Wayne State's Karter Fitzpatrick was selected as pitcher of the year for the second consecutive season. Another Warrior, Drew Hill, received the GLIAC Freshman Player of the Year award.

Leo Berger of Parkside was named GLIAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year.

Saginaw Valley State skipper Adam Piotrowicz was honored as GLIAC Coach of the Year for leading the Cardinals to a first-place conference finish and the regular season crown.

Logan Welch of SVSU is the 2024 recipient of the Troy Berry Award. The honor, named for the University of Findlay head baseball coach, is presented annually to the GLIAC baseball player who best combines outstanding character and leadership on the field, in the classroom and in the community.

Saginaw Valley State led all conference squads with five first-team selections followed by Grand Valley State and Wayne State with four each.

2024 GLIAC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Hayden Jatczak, Saginaw Valley State

Hayden Jatczak is the first GLIAC Player of the Year from SVSU since 1993. He ranks top-five in all of NCAA DII in several categories including hits (1st), hits per game (1st), batting average (1st), doubles (5th), runs (3rd), and runs per game (2nd). The Bay City, Michigan, native has broken single-season records this season in doubles with 22, RBI with 67, hits with 90, runs scored with 74, and he is tied in home runs with 14. The two-time All-GLIAC honoree threw a no hitter, the first confirmed no hitter for SVSU since 1992, against Findlay early in the season.

2024 GLIAC PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Karter Fitzpatrick, Wayne State

Redshirt senior Karter Fitzpatrick (Monroe, Mich. / Carleton Airport) is Wayne State's third straight GLIAC Pitcher of the Year (Ryan Korolden in 2022) and fourth in five seasons (not awarded in 2020, Hunter Brown in 2019). Only three other pitchers in league history have garnered the distinction twice and Fitzpatrick is just the second back-to-back winner (first since 2018). This spring, WSU's all-time wins leader (31-8 career record) paced the conference in innings pitched (79), strikeouts (95), punchouts per nine innings (10.8), ERA (3.19) and WHIP (1.00) while tying-for-first in wins (8-2) to go with only 19 walks and four complete games.

2024 GLIAC FRESHMAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Drew Hill, Wayne State

Drew Hill (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. / Grosse Pointe North) is Wayne State's second GLIAC Freshman Player of the Year in a row (Tony Hatzigeorgiou in 2023) and third in the last five times awarded (Hunter DeLanoy in 2019). This season, Hill (43 games played, 40 starts) ranked second among GLIAC rookies in batting average at .329, behind only Parkside's Jude Allen at .333. With that being said, Hill notched six more games played, 50 more at-bats, 16 more hits and 17 more RBI than Allen. The rookie right fielder totaled that .329 clip (48-for-146), which was second on the team, with 22 runs, 15 doubles, two home runs, 32 driven in, 69 total bases, 23 walks and a .888 OPS (on-base plus slugging).

2024 GLIAC FRESHMAN PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Leo Berger, Parkside

Leo Burger was named GLIAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year after a monster first year campaign. Burger was as dominant as it gets out of the back end of the Rangers bullpen. In fact, Burger earned five saves, which was second best in the GLIAC. In all, he pitched to a 1.90 ERA in 23.2 innings. In the process, he struck out a brilliant 39 batters. His best appearance of the season came in a 2.2 inning save against Grand Valley State. Burger did not allow a hit and punched out seven Laker hitters en route to a Rangers victory.

2024 TROY BERRY AWARD
Logan Welch, Saginaw Valley State

Saginaw Valley State senior Logan Welch is the 2024 recipient of the Troy Berry Award. Welch is active on the SVSU campus and in the Saginaw community, serving as a SAAC leader, spearheading a Holiday Toy Drive, organizing the Make-A-Wish Staff Athletic Games and volunteering at MacGregor Elementary School on Fridays throughout the fall semester. He also acted as the Financial Chair for the Lotus Project and coordinated eight events throughout the year to provide workshops for mental, physical and emotional health. Welch also created the Lotus Room, a sensory room for students to go to for daily work. He also was on the GLIAC Championships Committee, the GLIAC SAAC Board and was an organizer for SVSU Baseball's “Team IMPACT” community service efforts with local youth.

2024 GLIAC COACH OF THE YEAR
Adam Piotrowicz, Saginaw Valley State

Saginaw Valley State head coach Adam Piotrowicz makes history as the first Cardinal skipper to earn GLIAC Coach of the Year. Piotrowicz led SVSU to a 36-13 overall record in the regular season. It is the first 30+ win season since 2008. The team experienced a historical season highlighted by earning the first outright conference regular season championship since 2002. Piotrowicz coached GLIAC Player of the Year Hayden Jatczak to a career-best season as he shattered multiple career and single-season records this year. The Cardinals lead the league in hits, doubles, triples, RBI, stolen bases, batting average, on-base and slugging percentage. The SVSU pitching staff leads the GLIAC in strikeouts and K/9.

FIRST TEAM ALL-GLIAC

C	Kyle Ray, Wayne State
1B	Austin Schweiger, Saginaw Valley State
2B	Brandon Scheurer, Saginaw Valley State
SS	CJ Maury, Wayne State
3B	Jonas Gulbrandsen, Grand Valley State
OF	Josh Robinson, Davenport
OF	Colin Cornwell, Saginaw Valley State
OF	Ryan Dykstra, Grand Valley State
OF	Kyle Nott, Grand Valley State
DH	Hayden Jatczak, Saginaw Valley State
UT	Bennett Hitzelberger, Wayne State
SP	Karter Fitzpatrick, Wayne State
SP	Mike Morawski, Grand Valley State
SP	Carson Fischer, Davenport
SP	Hayden Jatczak, Saginaw Valley State
RP	Leo Berger, Parkside
RP	Sam Leck, Grand Valley State

SECOND TEAM ALL-GLIAC

C	Brendan Guciardo, Grand Valley State
1B	Jude Allen, Parkside
2B	Connor Hnilo, Davenport
SS	Connor McClennen, Saginaw Valley State
3B	Austin Cicerone, Saginaw Valley State
OF	Reed Raymond, Saginaw Valley State
OF	Michael Tchavdarov, Davenport
OF	Drew Hill, Wayne State
OF	Peter Fusek, Parkside
DH	Emanuel Andujar Ferreira, Parkside
UT	Connor Schuman, Grand Valley State
SP	Griffin Kilander, Wayne State
SP	Chase Raymond, Saginaw Valley State
SP	Nick Rutkowski, Grand Valley State
SP	Kaleb Schulist, Parkside
RP	Andrew Petsche, Purdue Northwest
RP	Brandon Scheurer, Saginaw Valley State

HONORABLE MENTION ALL-GLIAC

Anthony Aloisio, Davenport
Carson Price, Davenport
Will Goebel, Grand Valley State
Ayden VanEnkevort, Grand Valley State
Owen Brock, Parkside
Jared Heinzen, Parkside
Luke Montgomery, Purdue Northwest
Blake Newell, Purdue Northwest
Jack Decker, Saginaw Valley State
Jeff Reseigh, Saginaw Valley State
Mason McGuire, Wayne State
Ashton Potts, Wayne State