It was announced earlier this week that five members of the University of Redlands baseball team landed on the All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) teams. Junior pitching ace Nolan Nicholson (Fullerton, CA) earned his second All-Conference award of his career with a spot on the First Team, while junior left fielder Kyle Rizzo (Redlands, CA), sophomore catcher Jefre Johnson (Canby, OR), and sophomore pitcher Mike McCarthy (Brentwood, CA) captured their inaugural accolades, also as members of the First Team. Graduate student first baseman Brian Schumaker (San Diego, CA) rounded out the awardees for Redlands with his Second Team nod.

Nicholson provided solid play on the mound during his first full year as a starter. In addition to ranking first in Division III for wins, he dominated SCIAC opponents with a 7-1 record. In 45 innings pitched, he garnered a 5.00 ERA with 33 strikeouts.

Rizzo experienced a breakout season with the Bulldogs, leading the starters in six categories during 18 conference games played. He boasted a .433 batting average with four triples and 47 total bases, to go along with a .701 slugging percentage. He scored 21 runs and went nine-for-nine on stolen bases. In addition, Rizzo tied for the team-lead in hits with 29 and home runs with two.

Johnson made significant contributions during his first full season behind the plate. In 19 SCIAC games, he established an impressive .976 fielding percentage with 106 putouts and 16 assists. He proved to be equally reliable at the plate with a .408 batting average and the best on-base percentage among the starters at .500. He also shared the team-lead for hits (29), doubles (9), and home runs (2).

Coming into the season as the most experienced starter, McCarthy quickly found his form and led the rotation with a 4.17 ERA during conference games. Accumulating a 5-2 record, he pitched more innings than any other Bulldog, struck out a team-high 42 batters, and held opponents to a respectable .240 average.

Schumaker concluded his career with more games played than any male student-athlete in Redlands history with a total of 160. During 19 SCIAC games, he proved clutch at the plate by offering a batting average of .365 with a team-leading 23 RBI. In addition, he posted a solid .568 slugging percentage and a .443 on-base percentage. Finally, Schumaker shared the team-lead with nine doubles and two home runs. At first base, he provided an impressive fielding percentage of .983 on 158 putouts and 15 assists.

The Bulldogs finished second in conference with a 15-6 record, which was just two games behind SCIAC Champion University of La Verne. Redlands also earned an overall mark of 27-13, posting the second-most wins in Bulldog baseball history.

The head coaches of the eight conference schools nominate and vote on the All-SCIAC teams at their end-of-season meeting. For a complete list of the All-Conference teams, please log onto http://www.thesciac.org.