Eck Leads Swedes KCAC Baseball All-Conference Teams

The Bethany College baseball team had five players named to the KCAC All-Conference teams. The five Swedes who earned KCAC honors include: Dan Eck, Aaron Huerta, Pablo Contreras, Clayton Cozzitorto, and Daniel Hordo.

Eck, a junior from Seattle, Wash., led the Swedes honors. Eck was received Co-Pitcher of the year honors with Jacob Webb from Tabor College. He was also named to the First Team All-KCAC as a starting pitcher. Eck has an earned run average of 1.330 which ranks him eighth in the NAIA. He only allows 1.02 walks per nine innings which is seventh in the NAIA. Eck is 7-4 on the year and has started 12 games. He has pitched nine complete games. He has only walked 10 batters, while striking out 68, and his batting average against is 0.183.

Huerta, Contreras and Cozzitorto were named Second Team All-KCAC. Huerta, a senior from Silver City, N.M., anchored the Swedes in center-field. He has started all 50 games for Bethany and boasts a .322 batting average. Huerta leads Bethany with 32 RBI's, five home runs, and is tied for the most hits on the team with 49. Contreras, a senior from Long Beach, Calif., led the Swedes in batting average, hitting 0.346 in 133 at bats. He had 46 hits and led the team with 12 doubles. Contreras also drove in 25 runs this year. Cozzitorto, a junior from Gustine, Calif., had the team's second best earned run average for starting pitchers, 3.42. He had a 6-5 record and pitched five complete games. Cozzitorto struck out 64 batters and only had a 0.245 batting average against.

The Swedes catcher, Hordo, earned Honorable Mention All-KCAC honors as a senior. Hordo played in 48 of Bethany's 50 games and held a 0.316 batting average. He tied Huerta for most hits on the team, 49. Hordo had eight doubles and 23 RBI's. As a catcher he had a 0.970 fielding percentage and assisted on 28 outs.

Bethany finished the regular season in fourth place and will face the University of Saint Mary in the first round of the KCAC Baseball tournament tonight in Great Bend, Kan., at 7:00 PM.