Five Huskies Earn All-Conference Honors, The Most Since 1998
May 31, 2018 | Baseball
SAN FRANCSICO – Five Huskies were named to the 2018 All-Pac-12 team, the most since 1998 when six earned first-team honors. In addition, two more Huskies were named honorable mention all-conference.
Seniors Alex Hardy, Levi Jordan and Joe Wainhouse, plus junior Joe DeMers and sophomore Nick Kahle were all named to the All-Conference team. Junior Mason Cerrillo and sophomore Jordan Jones earned honorable mention.
Jordan was a member of the honorable mention team in 2016 and 2017, and can now add first-team honors to his resume. The Puyallup, Wash., native moved over to shortstop for a majority of the season to replace an injured AJ Graffanino and did not miss a beat defensively. He also excelled with the bat, hitting .286 and finishing the regular season second on the team with eight home runs and 37 runs batted in. Jordan hit a team-best .397 in May and capped the month by earning Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday for his efforts in helping the Huskies win a series over No. 3 Stanford.
A four-year, walk-on starter, Jordan is just the seventh Husky to play over 200 games in his career and also ranks seventh in UW history with 676 at bats.
Hardy is a fifth-year senior who had to battle through injuries early in his career and saw limited action before being rewarded with an outstanding senior season on the mound. Hardy, also from Puyallup, Wash., was 4-2 with seven saves and a 2.19 earned run average in 31 appearances. His ERA ranks second in the conference, and he's sixth in saves and fifth in opposing batting average against (.213). The right-hander posted a Pac-12 best 1.27 ERA and .176 average against in Conference play. Hardy enters post-season play with 70 career appearance, which is tied for seventh on the UW career list, while his 31 games in 2018 is tied for sixth most in UW single-season history.
Wainhouse stormed onto the scene in 2018 after beginning the year with some uncertainty about what his role would be. All he did was hit .309 and lead the team with 14 home runs, 50 runs batted in and 15 multi-RBI games. The designated hitter ranked fifth in the Pac-12 in homers and 11th in RBI. He led the Conference in RBI (37) and was second in home runs (12) during Pac-12 play. Wainhouse, from Kent, Wash., was especially hot in May, batting .356 with eight homers and 22 RBIs.
DeMers, from Martinez, Calif., was a Midseason Golden Spikes Watch list member after bursting onto the national scene by throwing the 27th perfect game in NCAA history on Feb. 24 against UC Riverside. For the year, DeMers was 6-3 with a 2.56 ERA and two saves. The right-hander led the Pac-12 by throwing 105.1 innings and was sixth in ERA and strikeouts with 83. In 14 starts, he went eight or more innings seven times and had nine quality starts. He currently ranks fourth all-time in UW history with 44 starts, fifth with 278 1/3 innings pitched and ninth with 180 strikeouts.
Kahle was the only Husky to play in all 53 games and remarkably caught 463 2/3 out of a possible 480 2/3 innings (96.4%) behind the plate. He hit .295 for the year with four home runs and 29 runs batted in and upped his average to .346 in Pac-12 action. Kahle also has hit 19 doubles this year, the second most ever by a UW catcher. The sophomore from Simi Valley, Calif., was a midseason addition to the Johnny Bench Watch List.
Cerrillo (Auburn, Wash.) earned honorable mention recognition after hitting a team-best .348, while collecting 20 multiple-hit games along the way, including eight three-hit games.
Jones (Kent, Wash.) was 6-3 with a 3.44 earned run average in 89 innings. He struck out 76 and walked just 14 batters. The team was 13-3 in games that Jones pitched.
Pac-12 batting champ Andrew Vaughn of California was named Player of the Year. Oregon State's Luke Heimlich was Pitcher of the Year and his teammate, infielder Cadyn Grenier, was Defensive Player of the Year. David Esquer of Pac-12 champion Stanford was the Coach of the Year. Arizona State's Spencer Torkelson was named Freshman of the Year.
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