CANYON, Texas – Four MSU Denver players have earned All-South Central Region honors from the Division II Conference Commissioners Association, including first-team selections
Chase Anderson and
Bill Ralston.
Pitchers
Cade Crader and
Logan Soole were named to the D2CCA's all-region second team.
It's the second all-region first team honor of the season for Ralston, the Roadrunners' third baseman. He was also named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association first team last week. Soole was also a second-team all-region pick by the NCBWA.
During regular-season play Ralston, an All-Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference first team selection, was third in the RMAC in RBIs (51), third in walks (27), fifth in runs (49), fifth in on-base percentage (.500), sixth in batting (.416), tied for sixth in hits (57), seventh in homers (11), seventh in total bases (101) and 11th in slugging percentage (.737). For the season he finished at .395 with 11 homers and 52 RBIs.
Anderson earned the all-region utility player nod after starting games at five positions, primarily second base (18) and left field (19), but also in center field (one), right field (four) and third base (two). Through the end of the regular season, he ranked sixth in Division II and first in the RMAC in runs (56). He led the RMAC with 30 walks, was fourth with 59 hits, seventh with 13 doubles, seventh with a .497 on-base percentage, ninth with a .393 batting average, and 10th with 95 total bases. He opened season the season with a 20-game hitting streak, and he reached base by hit or walk in all but two of MSU Denver's 44 games. He is a two-time All-RMAC second team selection – the league doesn't have a first-team utility position.
Crader, an All-RMAC first team choice, pitched a nine-inning perfect game on March 27, the first in RMAC history and only the 11th nine-inning perfect game in Division II history. He was named to the RMAC All-Tournament Team after pitching a complete game victory in an elimination contest and finished his senior season 8-1 with a 4.27 ERA. Through the end of the regular season, he ranked third in the RMAC with 12.9 strikeouts per nine innings, and fourth with 81 strikeouts. He was also tied for second in the RMAC in wins, was third in hits per nine innings (7.5), third in opponent batting average (.224), fourth in WHIP (1.10), and fourth in strikeout/walk ratio (5.4). He finished third in program history in career strikeouts (178), second in single-season strikeouts (90) and seventh in career wins (14). He also won an RMAC Gold Glove for defense at his position.
Soole, who was an All-RMAC first team choice as a pitcher, earned all-region second team at the utility-pitcher position. He was first in the RMAC in hits per nine innings (6.2), first in WHIP (0.98), second in ERA (2.63) and ninth in strikeouts/9 (10.5) during the regular season. He has the best career ERA in program history (3.15). He also batted .378 with three homers and 10 RBIs in 37 at-bats as a senior. In 2019, he was D2CCA's All-America second team and all-region first team utility-pitcher. He was a CoSIDA Academic All-America 1st team choice in 2020.
