Locally: Trio of area players named to college baseball All-America teams
Three former area high school baseball standouts were in the spotlight last week when college postseason honors were passed out.
Alek Jacob, a Gonzaga junior pitcher from North Central, and Kyle Manzardo, a Washington State junior first baseman from Lake City, were named to the NCAA Division I All-America third team by the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings Sporting Goods on Saturday after receiving that organization’s All-West Region first-team honors earlier in the week.
Nick Merkel, a Central Methodist (Missouri) junior pitcher from Ferris and Community Colleges of Spokane, was selected to the ABCA/Rawlings NAIA All-America second team after receiving a similar honor from the NAIA.
Jacob’s Gonzaga teammate, junior third baseman Brett Harris, from Arlington Heights, Illinois, was named to the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I second All-America team and All-West first team. It was the second All-America honor of the week for Harris, who also was named to the 2021 Senior CLASS Award second-team, the first Zag honored on that national team.
Harris was earlier named one of 10 Senior CLASS Award finalists, which was won by Kentucky first baseman T.J. Collett.
In 53 games this season, Harris led the Zags in hits (70), RBIs (43), batting average (.350), runs scored (53), slugging percentage (.535) and on-base percentage (482). He also had a .968 fielding percentage at the “hot corner” with 89 assists and 63 putouts. Harris earned a bachelor of education in special education with a cumulative 3.51 GPA.
Jacob, a Collegiate Baseball second-team All-American, was the fifth Zag to pitch a no-hitter and first since 1990 when he blanked Pepperdine 10-0 on April 16. He also pitched a complete-game, 3-0 shutout over LSU, the eventual NCAA West winner, in the first game of the regional.
The right-hander had an 8-1 record, three saves, 112 strike outs and a 2.52 ERA in 85 2/3 innings during the season.
Manzardo, in the top nine in the Pac-12 in six offensive categories, was earlier named first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball, the Cougars’ first first-team selection since 1990, and third-team All-American by Perfect Game.
He was fourth in the Pac-12 in hitting (.365), third in slugging (.640), second in RBIs (60), tied for third in doubles (19), tied for ninth in home runs (11) and fourth in total bases (126).
Merkel had a record-breaking first season at Central Methodist after transferring from CCS. The 6-foot-7 right-hander pitched the Eagles into the NAIA World Series championship game by beating host Lewis-Clark State 8-5 in the semifinals to cap a season in which he went 14-0 with 125 strikeouts in 962/3 innings. Two of the wins were in the World Series.
• Jacob and Gonzaga junior outfielder Jack Machtolf (Gonzaga Prep) were named 2021 West Coast Confrence All-Academic honorable mention. Machtolf has a 3.42 GPA and Jacob a 3.28. It’s the first academic honor for both.
Football
Marc Anderson, a member of the Eastern Washington University coaching staff for roughly a decade, has added coaching duties to his administrative role. He has officially been named the Eagles’ new tight ends coach and chief of staff.
In 2020, he took on additional duties as recruiting coordinator after spending five years as director of football operations.
In his role as chief of staff, the 2014 EWU graduate, who holds bachelor and master’s degrees from the school, will provide a variety of administrative support services for head coach Aaron Best and the program.
• Nick Gilbert, who got his coaching start in 2013 as a graduate assistant at the University of Idaho under first-year head coach Paul Petrino, is returning to the Vandals as offensive line coach.
“It’s great to have Nick on board,” said Petrino. “It really helps that he’s been around the offense, both when he was here before and then being at Louisville, and even at Memphis the first time. He has a lot of experience, he’s a great, young mind and I think he’s going to be a real star in this profession.”
Gilbert spent last season on his second stint at the University of Memphis as offensive quality control coach, working with running backs and tight ends. His first time there he worked with the offensive line before moving on to the University of Louisville. He also was offensive line coach at Concord University in West Virginia in 2019 before returning to Memphis.
Softball
North Idaho College has removed the interim tag from Shay Fuson’s title. The former Cardinals’ All-American, who was interim head softball coach the last two seasons, was named the new full-time head coach after a national search, athletics director Bobby Lee announced.
Fuson played for the Cardinals from 2006-08, led the team to the NJCAA Region 18 Championship and second place at the 2007 NJCAA National Championship, and was an All-American in 2008. She still holds several NIC records.
After completing her career at Division II Adelphi University, where she was team MVP in 2011, Fuson returned to NIC and joined the staff of then head coach Don Williams. Fuson served six seasons as an assistant coach before stepping away for the full-time job of mother and wife.
When Williams left in 2019 to become head coach at Division I Southern Utah, Fuson returned to accept the interim role that ended last week. In her two COVID-impacted seasons, the Cardinals had more games canceled than they played. They had a 27-12 overall record, going 23-4 this spring. In the two seasons they had 38 games canceled.
• Ten players from area high schools were honored by the Spokane Girls Fastpitch Softball Association this month with Summer Classic Scholarships designed “to provide financial assistance to players headed toward their next phase of education.”
The SGFSA provides annual scholarships connected to its Summer Classic tournament every June. The 2020 tournament had to be canceled because of COVID-19 restrictions. It resumed earlier this month. Seven of the recipients were from 2020 and three from 2021.
The 2020 recipients, their high schools and colleges they plan to attend: Alli Schuerman, Shadle Park, University of Washington; Carley Bachmier, Mt. Spokane, Washington State; Faith Iverson, Northwest Christian, Grand Canyon; Peyton Cushner, Mead, Park University; Logan Krantz, Cheney, Western Oregon; Sydney Frampton, Northwest Christian, Pacific (Oregon); Jazlynn Johnson, Northwest Christian, Whitworth.
2021: Makenzie Nelson, Northwest Christian, Creighton; Annie Brose, Mead, Whitworth; Jaelynn Proctor, Rogers, Columbia Basin.
Letters of intent
Lewis-Clark State women’s track: Jeana Craven, sprinter, Timberlake HS, 2021 Idaho 3A state 200m champion.
Soccer
Isabella Weaver, younger sister of former Cougars All-American Morgan Weaver, is transferring to Washington State after leading Tacoma Community College to the NWAC championship as a freshman in her only full season with the Titans.
The forward from University Place, Wash., will be a junior academically but will have three years to play, said WSU coach Todd Shulenberger. Weaver scored a team-high 15 goals with four multi-goal games and earned a spot on the NWAC South-West regions All-Star team. TCC played a limited schedule in 2021 due to COVID-19 protocols.
Miscellany
T.J. Conley, a former University of Idaho and NFL punter who has been on the Eastern Washington University staff full time since April 2019, has been promoted to assistant athletic director for athletic performance for the athletic department.
While Conley will have oversight of the entire sports performance department, and direct the training of all 14 varsity sports and a staff of six assistants, he will work primarily with men’s and women’s basketball.
He started at Eastern in August 2018 as a graduate assistant working with the football team. He also worked just under a year at Gonzaga as a strength and conditioning coach and at Whitworth assisting its football team. While at EWU, he completed his master’s degree in physical education in 2020.