MIDLAND WARRIORS BASEBALL OVERALL: 40-18
GPAC: 18-10
HOME: 13-8
THE CHAMPS ARE HERE: Midland University enters the National Championship Opening Round as the 2017 GPAC Postseason Championships. The Warriors are making their fourth opening round appearance in the past five years after having played in the GPAC Championship Game in each of the past five seasons. Over that time span, no other team in the GPAC has won more games than Midland. The Warriors also won the 2014 postseason crown and were the 2016 regular season champs. HINDSIGHT IS 40/40: Despite playing sub-.500 baseball over its final nine games of the regular season, Midland flipped the switch at the perfect time. The Warriors went 4-0 in the conference tournament to enter nationals with a record of 40-18. This marks Midland’s third 40-win season in the past four years.
AWAY: 10-6
NEUTRAL: 17-4
DUAL THREATS: DH Conlan McKenzie and super-utility man Alex Bee have done it all for the Warriors this season. At the plate, McKenzie has entrenched himself in the middle of the batting order and is hitting .402 with 10 doubles, six homers and 29 RBI. He drove in all five runs in Midland’s 5-3 GPAC Championship win over Concordia, including the gamewinning three-run dinger. On the mound, the senior righthander is 3-1 with a 1.78 ERA and six saves. Alex Bee, who has played in six different positions on the field, including starts in all three outfield spots, is batting .333 on the year. He is 1-0 with a team-best seven saves on the mound to go along with a 1.59 ERA. The afore mentioned, Cole Gray, has moved from his post in center field to man shortstop over the past month to shore up the Warriors’ infield defense.
KILLER B’S: Gold glove first baseman Tanner Bos, and the aptly named, Alex Bee, have done a bulk of the Warriors’ damage in the middle of the batting order. Bos leads the team in home runs (10) and RBI (40), while Bee ranks second in those categories (7/38). Buddy Balsino has also launched seven long balls in a part-time role for Midland. ACES WILD: Midland’s 1-2 punch of Torrey Escamilla (12-0) and Kiefer Musiel (9-1) has dominated on the mound this season. Escamilla’s win total ranks third in the NAIA. The Fremont native ranks second in the GPAC in innings pitched (84.2), fourth in strikeouts (72) and sixth in ERA (3.08). Musiel, the 2016 GPAC Pitcher of the Year, leads the conference in strikeouts (81) while ranking sixth in innings (76.2) and seventh in opponent batting average (.247).
ESCAMILLA
MUSIEL
GRAY ALL GROWN UP: Cole Gray is penning a prolific final chapter to his Warrior career. “Rook”, as he was dubbed by his coaches and teammates in 2014, has come a long way since his freshman campaign. Gray was named the 2017 Co-GPAC Player of the Year and the Midland University Petrow Award winner at Saturday’s commencement ceremony as the Most Outstanding Student-Athlete of his graduating class. The Ontario, California native leads the GPAC in batting (.415) and enters nationals just four hits shy of tying the program single-season record (84). Gray is Midland’s all-time leader in runs scored (213), and ranks second in at-bats (761), hits (275), doubles (60) and triples (12). He ranks third in RBI (149), fourth in batting average (.361) and stolen bases (48), and fifth in homers (23).