June 1, 2023, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Jared Berkenpas of the Grand Rapids Community College baseball team was named Conference Player of the Year, and seven other players were saluted on Thursday with postseason honors.
GRCC's baseball team finished the 2023 campaign as the Northern Conference champions with a 23-2 record and the MCCAA champions with a 35-14 record. The season included a 17-win streak.
"I think we had a lot of players that were deserving of All-Conference," head coach Mike Eddington said. "We had a talented team that was very passionate about baseball."
For the second consecutive year, Berkenpas was named All-Region, All-MCCAA and First Team All-Conference.
The 6-foot, 5-inch righty from South Christian High School was GRCC's top pitcher in the rotation and led the team with a 8-2 record, 1.44 ERA, 71 strikeouts, .194 opponents' batting average, and had seven complete games. His ERA was second best of all NJCAA Division II players.
Fernando Rivera-Calderon and Xander Reisbig were also named All-Region, All-MCCAA and First Team All-Conference.
Rivera-Calderon led the team in 10 home runs, with half of those being grand slams. He also led the team with 59 hits, 15 doubles, 53 runs batted in, 17 stolen bases and a slugging percentage of .699. He was also in top-3 on the team with a .355 batting average, 1.106 OPS, six triples and 50 runs scored.
Reisbig earned All-Conference honors for the second straight year after leading the team in batting with a .393 batting average and 1.203 OPS. The slugger also hit eight home runs, seven doubles, had a slugging percentage of .682 and led the team with 29 bases on balls.
Sophomore Jacob Gumieny earned All-MCCAA and First Team All-Conference and All-Region honors after batting .391 with a team-high 59 hits and seven triples. The middle infielder also had 37 RBI, nine doubles and scored 33 runs.
Trevin Laming, the team's leadoff hitter and center fielder, earned First Team-Conference honors and was named to the All-Freshmen team.
Laming batted .316 with 55 hits, 35 runs batted in, 11 doubles, five triples, nine home runs and 12 stolen bases. He also scored a team-high 55 runs and was second on the team with 103 total bases.
Three GRCC players were named Second Team All-Conference: freshman pitcher Lucas McKinney; sophomore pitcher Colton Leatherman; and sophomore catcher Dylan Chargo.
McKinney was named to the All-Freshman Team after a season where he went 8-2 in 11 appearances on the mound. In 50.2 innings the Clarkston native struck out 38 batters and had an ERA of 3.37.
Leatherman finished off his GRCC career with a 4-1 record and an ERA of 3.26. He was second on the team with three complete games, 37 strike outs and an opponent's batting average of just .184.
Chargo earned All-Conference honors for the second straight year after proving to be the best catcher in the league. He threw seven runners out in the rare instance that runners tried to steal on him. At the plate he batted .300 for much of the season and finished with 35 hits, 10 doubles, two home runs and 25 runs batted in.
Fifth-year head coach Mike Eddington, who recorded a 100 career wins this season, was named the MCCAA Coach of the year and the Northern Conference Coach of the Year.
This story was written by Ben Brown.