CCAA RELEASE

CHICO, Calif. -- Six Cal Poly Pomona baseball student-athletes were selected to the 2019 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Baseball All-Conference Team, it was announced by the conference office on the eve of the CCAA Baseball Tournament at Banner Island Ballpark in Stockton.

Senior pitcher Tim Holdgrafer was the lone First Team selection for the Broncos, senior designated hitter Nic Hernandez and junior second baseman Ryon Knowles garnered Second Team honors, and senior catcher Logan Gopperton, sophomore outfielder Cesar Lopez and senior pitcher Austin Isenhart earned Honorable Mentions.  Hernandez was also voted as a Honorable Mention as an outfielder.

Holdgrafer, a native of San Diego, Calif., has been the Broncos' ace this season, leading the CCAA in strikeouts with 78.  He is 8-4 with a 4.37 earned run average in 13 starts and 82.1 innings of work.  Holdgrafer's season was highlighted by his no-hitter, the seventh in school history, when he held nationally-ranked and West Region powerhouse UC San Diego hitless in a nine-inning complete game back on Feb. 22. In that game against the Tritons, he allowed four walks and struckout a career-high 11 batters en route to CPP's 9-0 statement victory. This is the second All-CCAA honor for Holdgrafer, he was a Honorable Mention as a junior last season.

Hernandez, from San Dimas, Calif., continues to be one of the most dangerous hitters in the conference, sporting a .312 batting average with the second-most doubles in the CCAA this season with 22 (which is also fourth-most in Division II), adding four home runs, 37 runs batted in and 36 runs scored as one of only two players on this year's roster starting in all 50 games. While securing a Second Team All-CCAA honor as a designated hitter, the senior also snagged a Honorable Mention as an outfielder this season (he started 26 games as the DH and 24 games as the left fielder, making him eligible for awards in both positions).

Hernandez becomes a four-time All-CCAA honoree, earning a First Team award last season, a Second Team award as a sophomore in 2017 in addition to being named the CCAA's Freshman of the Year in 2016. In the previous three seasons, Hernandez earned the awards as a first baseman.

Knowles, from Corona, Calif., leads the team in hitting in his first year with the Broncos after transferring from up the road at Mt. San Antonio College, posting a .352 batting average with four home runs and 39 RBI, pounding out the second-most doubles on the team with 15. He also leads the team with 10 stolen bases.

Gopperton, hailing from San Bernardino, Calif., is hitting .252 this season with three doubles, a triple and 14 RBI in 43 games this year. He has also thrown out the third-most runners in the CCAA in 2019 from the catcher's position, nailing 12 attempted stealers in 46 tries. Lopez, a native of Downey, Calif., earns his second straight All-CCAA Honorable Mention, hitting .316 with five doubles and 22 RBI in 48 games. Isenhart, from San Dimas, Calif., has gone 7-5 with a 3.90 ERA on the mound this season, striking out 65, the third-most in the CCAA this year.

Cal Poly Pomona earned the No. 6 seed in the upcoming CCAA Baseball Tournament, which takes place Wednesday through Saturday (May 8-11) in Stockton.  The Broncos will face off against No. 1 seed UC San Diego in the opening game of the tournament Wednesday. First pitch is set for 11:00 am.
 

2019 CCAA Baseball All-Conference Team
Most Valuable Player:		Shay Whitcomb, UC San Diego
Most Valuable Pitcher:		Brandon Weed, UC San Diego
Newcomer of the Year:		Pierson Loska, Cal State Dominguez Hills
Freshman of the Year:		Rylan Tinsley, Stanislaus State
Coach of the Year:		Eric Newman, UC San Diego
All-CCAA First Team
Pos.	Name	Yr.	School	Hometown
C	Aaron Kim	R-So.	UC San Diego	Orange
1B	Pierson Loska	Jr.	Cal State Dominguez Hills	Fountain Valley
2B	Gabe Chavez	Sr.	Cal State San Bernardino	West Covina
SS	Shay Whitcomb	So.	UC San Diego	Newbury Park
3B	Alex Eliopulos	R-Sr.	UC San Diego	La Jolla
INF (SS)	Tyler Okekirk	Jr.	Cal State LA	Rancho Santa Margarita
OF	Kyle Dean	Jr.	Cal State Monterey Bay	San Diego
OF	Adam Gordon	Sr.	Cal State LA	Mission Viejo
OF	Austin Ott	R-Sr.	Cal State San Marcos	Vista
OF	Cabot Van Til	Sr.	Cal State San Marcos	San Diego
P	Tim Holdgrafer	Sr.	Cal Poly Pomona	San Diego
P	Andrew Lopez	Sr.	Chico State	San Diego
P	Brandon Weed	Jr.	UC San Diego	Lemon Grove
P	Chase Wheatcroft	Sr.	Stanislaus State	Santa Clarita
RP	Matt Pulos	Sr.	Stanislaus State	Brentwood
UTILITY	Alec Daily	Gr.	Cal State LA	Temecula
DH	Alex Devito	Sr.	Chico State	Northridge
All-CCAA Second Team
Pos.	Name	Yr.	School	Hometown
C	Andrew Garcia	Jr.	Cal State San Marcos	San Dimas
1B	Grant Buck	Sr.	Cal State San Marcos	Carlsbad
2B	Ryon Knowles	Jr.	Cal Poly Pomona	Corona
SS	JT Navarro	Jr.	Chico State	Fountain Valley
3B	Nate Alam	Sr.	Cal State LA	Placentia
INF (3B)	Grant Victor	So.	Stanislaus State	Pasadena
OF	Jeremy Ciolek	So.	Cal State Dominguez Hills	Laguna Niguel
OF	Jack Harris	Jr.	San Francisco State	Watsonville
OF	Braeden Oki	Sr.	Stanislaus State	Tracy
OF	Kyosuke Ushimaru	Sr.	Cal State East Bay	Tokyo, Japan
P	Kevin Hahn	Sr.	Stanislaus State	San Mateo
P	Preston Mott	Sr.	UC San Diego	Clovis
P	Greg Steinbeck	Jr.	Cal State Monterey Bay	San Benito
P	Ted Stuka	Jr.	UC San Diego	Newport Beach
RP	Kyle Lucke	Sr.	UC San Diego	El Dorado Hills
UTILITY	Joseph Bahna	So.	Cal State San Marcos	Upland
DH	Nic Hernandez	Sr.	Cal Poly Pomona	San Dimas
Honorable Mention
C – Noe Garcia (CSULA), Logan Gopperton (CPP); 1B – Blake Baumgartner (UCSD); Kory Brown (SSU); 2B – Kyle Czaplak (CSUMB), Vinny Margiotta (STAN); 3B – Adam Hollar (CSUEB); OF – Alex Athanacio (UCSD), TJ Dove (CSUMB), Kai Gomez (CSUDH), Zachary Guardino (SSU), Nic Hernandez (CPP), Cesar Lopez (CPP); P – Jack Higgins (SFSU), Austin Isenhart (CPP), Grant Larson (CHICO), Mike Lopez (CSUSM), Ethan McRae (CSUMB), Brian Martinez (CSUEB), Rylan Tinsley (STAN); UTIL – Keenan Brigman (UCSD), Domenic Colacchio (CSUDH), Harley Lopez (SFSU); DH – Steve Robinson (CSUEB), Kokko Figueiredo (CSUMB)