PEORIA, Ill. -- Bradley junior centerfielder Dan Brewer (Brookfield, Ill./Lyons Township H.S.) was voted first-team All-Missouri Valley Conference and a total of five Braves earned postseason recognition in a league-wide vote of head coaches, according to an announcement by The Valley office Monday.
In addition to Brewer, junior rightfielder Colby Luttrell (Kincaid, Ill./South Fork H.S.) earned second-team All-MVC notice, while junior first baseman Grant Escue (Washington, Ill./Washington H.S.), sophomore second baseman Matt Fritz (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North H.S.) and junior closer Kori Jensen (Wichita, Kan./Goddard H.S.) all were named honorable mention All-MVC.
Brewer becomes the first Bradley outfielder to land on the Valley's first team since Chad Saalfrank in 1997 and he is just the fourth first-team All-MVC outfielder for the Braves since 1973, joining Baseball Hall-of-Famer Kirby Puckett (1981), Eric Kuhlman (1988) and Saalfrank. In his third year with the Braves, Brewer now has earned all-conference honors at three different positions: he was an honorable mention All-MVC second baseman as a freshman in 2006 and a second-team choice at shortstop as a sophomore last year.
Brewer enters this week's State Farm MVC Tournament batting .356 with 15 doubles, six home runs, 36 runs batted in and 18 stolen bases. In addition to his 18 steals, Brewer leads the Braves with 49 runs scored, a .576 slugging percentage and a.450 on-base percentage. He is the only Bradley batter to boast more walks (28) than strikeouts (25) this season.
Aided by his impressive numbers this season, Brewer has become the first player in Bradley history to club at least 20 career home runs (21) and swipe at least 40 career stolen bases (46). He ranks among Bradley's all-time top 10 in six offensive categories: triples (9, fourth); hit-by-pitches (18, fourth); stolen bases (46, seventh); doubles (47, seventh); runs scored (140, t-seventh); and total bases (325, ninth).
Luttrell has enjoyed a breakthrough year in his third season with the Braves. Although a starter in each of his first two seasons, Luttrell entered the 2008 campaign with a .265 career batting average and 51 runs batted in through 101 games. He enters this week's MVC Tournament leading the Braves with a .366 batting average, 46 runs batted in and 103 total bases.
Escue began his career at Stanford, but transferred to Bradley during the offseason and has been the most productive hitter among the team's 16 newcomers. He enters the MVC Tournament leading the Braves with 16 doubles and he is third with a .308 battnig average and 34 runs batted in.
Fritz began his career at NCAA Division III DePauw University, where he hit just .154 in 20 games as a freshman last season. A high school teammate of Bradley's 2007 Valley Freshman of the Year Brad Altbach, Fritz also transferred during the offseason and quickly played his way into the starting lineup. He enters the MVC Tournament batting .320 and he is second on the team with a .444 on-base percentage, an average aided by his team-leading 16 hit-by-pitches.
Jensen is a first-year transfer from Hutchinson (Kan.) C.C., where he was both an infielder and pitcher during his junior college career. After beginning this season at second base, Jensen quickly settled into the team's closer role and has set the single-season school record with seven saves. He also boasts a 5-0 record in his 21 outings, one shy of the single-season school records for both overall mound appearances and relief assignments.
The Braves (26-26, 10-14 MVC) are the No. 6 seed for this week's State Farm MVC Tournament and will face No. 3 seed Creighton (35-19, 16-8 MVC) in Game 2 at 3 p.m. Wednesday at Wichita State's Eck Stadium.
