OWH All-Midlands Baseball Team
Senior pitcher Corey Jackson highlighted the Bellevue University baseball team's selections on the Omaha World-Herald's All-Midlands Baseball team announced on Friday (July 2). Jackson was named the honorary captain of the squad. In addition, second baseman Cody Banks and shortstop Josh Vaughan were also named to the first team. Bruins who earned honorable mention honors included: Riley Baasch, Conner Barnett, Graham Cahill, Charlie Patterson, and McGrane Pledger.
Jackson earned second-team NAIA All-American honors this season and was named the NSAA Pitcher of the Year. A first-team all-league selection, Jackson led the nation with 176 strikeouts while pitching to a 9-3 record with a 2.43 ERA. He established a new program record for punch outs in a single season and strikeouts per nine innings (14.27). In 111 innings of work on the bump, Jackson limited opposing batters to a meager .170 batting average and just 5.43 hits per nine innings.
Jackson struck out at least 10 batters nine times, including doing so in each of his final four starts of the season. Jackson struck out an NAIA season-high 21 batters in BU's victory over Waldorf on May 1 but dialed up some of his best performances in postseason play. He struck out 16 in a 4-2 complete-game win over No. 9 Science & Arts in his first start of the NAIA Opening Round and followed up by striking out 10 Bulldogs and turning in a quality start on just two days' rest against Concordia in the "If Necessary" game.
Banks, who was named to the ABCA/Rawlings-NAIA Gold Glove team as well as being named to the all-NSAA first team, posted a .989 fielding percentage while helping the team turn 23 double plays. He played error-free over the season's final 53 games and did not commit an error while manning the keystone.
Offensively, Banks hit .346 with a .923 OPS. He led the team in both hits (77) and doubles (18) while ranking second with 25 extra-base hits, 39 RBI, and seven home runs.
The NSAA co-Player of the Year, Vaughan led the Bruins in the regular season in hitting (.373), slugging percentage (.596), extra-base hits (25), and RBIs (39) while posting a 1.034 OPS and scoring 40 runs.
Bellevue finished the year at 41-18, won the NSAA Regular-Season title, and reached the NAIA National Tournament for the 23rd time in program history. It was their eighth 40-win campaign in the last nine full seasons of competition.
2021 Omaha World-Herald All-Midlands Baseball Team
* denotes honorary captain
SP: Jake Fosgett, Concordia
* SP: Corey Jackson, Bellevue
SP: Jordan Wisner, Doane
RP: Nathan Buckallew, Concordia
C: Ben Berg, Concordia
1B: Lukas White, Doane
2B: Cody Banks, Bellevue
SS: Talon Little, Doane
3B: Jose Solis, Peru State
OF: Keaton Candor, Concordia
OF: Joey Grabanski, Concordia
OF: Andy Theiler, Doane
DH: Josh Vaughan, Bellevue
Honorable mention: Bellevue: Riley Baasch, Conner Barnett, Graham Cahill, Charlie Patterson, McGrane Pledger. Concordia: Jay Adams, Beau Dorman, Jesse Garcia, Nick Little. Doane: Travis Cowan, Jaryn Nakamoto, Joe Osborn, Jack Tillman. Hastings: Ryder Ghidotti, Gates Johnson, Race Traynor, Tino Zach. Midland: Sam Braun, Trey Nichols, Dakota Thornton. Nebraska Wesleyan: Derek Kolbush, Riley Ward. Peru State: Adam Cendejas, Luis Landaeta. Wayne State: Peyton Barnes, Bryce Bisenius, Alex Logelin, Ryan Obrecht. York: Jesus Licon, Alejandro Loera.
