Mid-American Conference

AVON, Ohio -- Today the Mid-American Conference announced the All-MAC First Team, Second Team & Specialty Award selections for the 2017 season. The teams were voted on by the league's head coaches. The league's All-Defensive Team was also announced this evening.

Western Michigan's Tanner Allison was named MAC Player of the Year, while Kent State's Joey Murray was tabbed as MAC Pitcher of the Year. Bowling Green's Jake Wilson earned MAC Freshman of the Year honors, Central Michigan's Tyler Hankins was picked as this year's MAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year & Ohio's Tyler Finkler earned MAC Defensive Player of the Year accolades. Kent State's Jeff Duncan was named the leagues MAC Coach of the Year for the second conseucitve season. 

Allison had a historic year for WMU as the junior hit .368 with a team-leading 17 doubles, nine home runs and 66 RBI. Allison, who broke the WMU Single Season RBI record, finished fourth in the nation in RBI per game (1.32) and ninth in total RBI (66). Overall this season, Allison led the MAC in batting average (.368) and RBI (66), tied for first in hits (75), was second in slugging percentage (.593), finished third in on-base percentage (.438), tied for third in doubles (17) and was third in total bases (121). He's the second MAC Player of the Year in WMU history, joining Scott Conant who won the award in 1991.

Murray sits atop the conference in ERA with a 1.98 and also leads in strikeouts with 102 on the season.  The sophomore holds a 6-1 record through 13 starts.  Murray is the 12th Kent State pitcher all-time to earn the award and the second consecutive for the Flashes as Eric Lauer earned the accolade in 2016.

Duncan earns his second consecutive MAC Coach of the Year honor after leading the Golden Flashes to another outright regular season championship in 2017.  At 35-16, Kent State has been ranked nationally for the past few weeks in Collegiate Baseball's national poll.  The team sits at 19th in the nation heading into the postseason and also leads the country with 22 road wins.

Wilson finished the season with a remarkable stretch of games. He recorded 18 hits over the final six games, hitting .621 (18-for-29) with multiple hits in each ballgame. He went 8-for-10 in the final series of the year at Elon, and opened the series with a 5-for-6 night at the plate. The New Lowell, Ontario, Canada native led all MAC freshmen with a.305 batting average on the season, which also led the team. His team-high 31 RBI were also tops in the league amongst freshmen, and were the most RBI recorded by a true freshman at Bowling Green since Jon Berti registered 34 in 2009. The rookie also led the Falcons with eight (8-for-11) stolen bases and a .387 on-base percentage.

Through 53 games in 2017, Finkler owns a .978 fielding percentage and has logged a team-high 168 assists. He has helped the Bobcats turn 43 double plays. Ohio's 0.982 team fielding percentage ranks seventh in the nation. The Bobcats have committed just 36 errors in 53 games. ranks fourth on the team in runs scored (32), RBIs (30) and home runs (5). He is also tied for third on the squad with 20 walks. He has stolen 15 bases in 17 attempts in 2017 to set a new career high. Finkler earned MAC East Division Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career on Monday (May 22).

The All-MAC First Team & All-MAC Second Team & All-Defensive Team were also announced last night at the MAC Awards Ceremony. All the #MACtion starts tomorrow with first round contests. For more MAC Baseball Tournament information you can visit Tournament Central -- located HERE.