Wentzell Named to First Team ABCA All-West Region, Three other Bruins Make Third Team

Dan Wentzell also earned NWC Player of the Year honors.

Salem-News.com SPORTS

NEWBERG, Ore. - Slugging right fielder Dan Wentzell of George Fox University has been named to the American Baseball Coaches Association NCAA Division III All-West Region First Team, while three of his Bruin teammates - center fielder Drew Johnson, second baseman Pat Bailey, and starting pitcher Nick Bratney - have received Third Team honors.

Wentzell, a senior from Tualatin, Ore., led the Northwest Conference in slugging pct. (.658), RBI (55), and total bases (102), and ranked second in doubles (16), home runs (8), and hits (60), third in batting (.387), on base pct. (.482), runs (43), and sacrifice flies (5, T), fourth in walks (31), and 10th in stolen bases (10, T).

Those numbers earned him NWC Player of the Year honors, making it two straight season for him to make the All-NWC First Team.

He was 13th nationally in RBI per game (1.34) and 46th in total home runs (8, T).

On the all-time George Fox career lists, he ranks second in doubles (48) and total bases (357), third in RBI (166), walks (83), and hit by pitches (20), fourth in at bats (596), hits (216), triples (7, T), and sacrifice flies (9, T), fifth in home runs (27), seventh in slugging pct. (.599), and eighth in runs (150) and stolen bases (34).

Wentzell was also an ESPN The Magazine / CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII College Division Baseball First Team selection for the second straight year.

Johnson, a senior from New Plymouth, Idaho, led the NWC in hits (66) and at bats (179, T), while ranking second in stolen bases (27), fourth in total at bats (203), fifth in batting (.369) and runs (39, T), sixth in sacrifice flies (4, T), and seventh in RBI (36, T) and total bases (77).

He was 32nd nationally in stolen bases per game (0.66).

He also made eight appearances on the mound this year with a 2.45 ERA and was seventh in the NWC in saves (2, T).

The speedster and defensive whiz is first all-time at George Fox in stolen bases (88) and steal attempts (106), second in at bats (634), sacrifices bunts (26), and sacrifice flies (10, T), and third in runs (165) and hits (225).

He was named All-NWC First Team for the second time.

Johnson was also an ESPN The Magazine / CoSIDA Academic All-District VIII College Division Baseball First Team selection.

Bailey, a sophomore from Highland, Utah, led the NWC in doubles (22), triples (4, T), and assists (134), while ranking second in total bases (89), fourth in batting (.373) and slugging pct. (.563), fifth in runs (39, T), ninth in at bats (158, T), and 10th in total at bats.

He set a new George Fox single-season record for doubles, and tied the Bruin single-game record for doubles (3) at Corban College.

He ranked fifth nationally in doubles per game (0.54). He was named First Team All-NWC for the first time.

Bratney, a sophomore right-hander from Boise, Idaho, ranked second in the NWC in wins (9, T), third in starts (12), sixth in earned run average (3.32), eighth in innings pitched (78.2) and appearances (15, T).

He tied for ninth nationally in wins while going 9-3 overall. He was named First Team All-NWC for the first time.

All four players were instrumental in another record-setting season for George Fox in 2007.

The Bruins set a record for best start ever by winning their first 14 games, and were ranked No. 5 nationally in the first in-season ABCA poll, the highest regular-season ranking ever for a George Fox team (the 2004 national championship team was No. 1 at the end of the year).

Their 30-11 overall record was the Bruins’ seventh season of 30 or more wins and was their 12th straight winning season, all under head coach Pat Bailey (no relation to the player).

George Fox finished second in the NWC to Pacific Lutheran University and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III West Regional Tournament, the sixth post-season appearance by the Bruins in eight seasons of NCAA eligibility.

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