D3baseball.com names Vallejo 1st Team All-West Region; Schwenn 2nd Team

2012 D3Baseball.com All-West RegionalTeam

WHITTIER, Calif. – Whittier College outfielder Andrew Vallejo and pitcher Ryan Schwenn were named to the D3baseball.com All-West Regional First and Second Teams, each respectively as announced on Friday, May 18. 

Vallejo was one of four players from the SCIAC to earn first team honors, while Schwenn was one of three players from the SCIAC to earn second team honors.   

Vallejo, a senior from Hollywood, Calif., led the Poets in almost every offensive category and led the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in hits and batting average helping him earn SCIAC Player of the Year Honors the first time a Poet has achieved this feat since 1986. 

For the second straight year he earned 1st Team All-SCIAC Honors and was a captain both on and off the field and finished the season batting .437 collecting 69 hits that included 15 doubles, 5 triples, and 5 home runs.  He also finished with 47 runs scored, 33 Runs batted in, a slugging percentage of .690 and had an on base percentage of .506.  To cap off his senior season he set the single season record for hits in Whittier College baseball history with 69 breaking the previous record by one.

Schwenn, a senior from Scottsdale, AZ led the Poets in almost every statistical pitching category finishing 2012 9-4 winning eight of his last nine games, with a 2.24 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 104 innings pitched.   This year he threw a no hitter against La Verne who was ranked No. 25 in the country at the time.  He went nine innings giving up one walk in route to the 4-0 victory.  This feat marked the first time in head Coach Mike Rizzo's tenure at Whittier College that one has been thrown.  It also marks the first time in Schwenn's career he has ever thrown a no hitter etching his name into the Whittier College record books.

But Ryan didn't stop there as he followed that performance up with a complete game against Occidental College giving up one run on five hits to go with eight strikeouts earning him his seventh win of the season putting him atop the SCIAC rankings in wins by himself.