PORTLAND, Ore. - Ahead of the conference championships this weekend, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference has announced the 2021 Baseball All-Conference Teams and Special Award winners. 

Northwest Nazarene received two of the prestigious special honors, with outfielder Grant Kerry named the Newcomer of the Year and Joe Schaefer voted the Coach of the Year.

NNU led the GNAC with 10 athletes named to an all-conference team, placing a league-most six on the First Team as well as two apiece on the Second Team and Honorable Mention squads. Joining Kerry on the First Team was starting pitcher Kyle Ethridge, closer Max Holtzclaw, second baseman Colton Moore, third baseman Shawn Grandmont, and utility/pitcher Ben Johnson.

Outfielder Ryan Dearing and reliever Blake McFadden both earned Second Team honors, while first baseman John Gonzalez and outfielder Haden Keller received Honorable Mention recognition.

Schaefer has led the Nighthawks to one of the best seasons in program history, entering the conference championships with an overall record of 29-7 and an incredible 21-3 mark in GNAC play that earned the program its first solo GNAC regular season title. NNU has been in the NCBWA Top 25 for nearly the entire season, reaching as high as No. 6 in the nation at one point, and currently sit at eighth in the country. As a team, the Nighthawks are in the top 25 nationally in scoring, walks, stolen bases, strikeout-to-walk ratio, WHIP, and walks allowed per nine innings. This is Schaefer's first Coach of the Year honor at NNU and the second for the program since joining the GNAC in 2002.

Kerry has taken the GNAC by storm in his first season in a Nighthawks uniform, ranking in the top 10 in the conference in nearly every offensive category. He is seventh with a .376 batting average, fifth with a .684 slugging percentage, ninth with a .458 on-base percentage, tied for second with 50 hits, third with 45 RBI, tied for ninth with eight doubles, third with 11 home runs, and tied for sixth with 16 walks. Kerry is the third Nighthawk to earn the Newcomer of the Year honor in the GNAC, joining Nick Ray in 2007 and Tyler Davis in 2015.

Ethridge makes the First Team in his first full season at NNU, ranking sixth in the conference in ERA (4.24), fifth in opposing batting average (.238), second in innings pitched (46.2), tied for first in strikeouts (67), and second in wins (5). He is also third in the conference and 31st nationally with 12.92 strikeouts per nine innings. He earned three GNAC Pitcher of the Week honors this season and one NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week award.

Grandmont earns all conference honors for the second time in his career at NNU, also making the Honorable Mention team in 2019. The senior is tied for the league lead with 52 RBI on the season, and also ranks eighth in on-base percentage, third with 40 runs scored, tied for fifth with 45 hits, tied for fifth with nine homers, tied for third with 23 walks, and tied for the GNAC lead with 21 stolen bases. His RBI mark is also 22nd in the country, and 1.44 RBI per game ranks 15th nationally.

As the Nighthawks' primary closer, Holtzclaw led the conference with five saves on the season and was second among pitchers that threw at least 10 innings with a 2.21 ERA in 20.1 innings of work. He was also eighth with 34 strikeouts, seventh with three wins, and second with 15 appearances. Moore is tied for fourth in the GNAC with 39 runs scored, 10th with 38 hits, ninth with 32 RBI, tied for third with 11 doubles, tied for seventh with seven home runs, tied for third with 23 walks, and third with 13 stolen bases. Used as pitcher, catcher, and designated hitter, Johnson is 15th with a .330 batting average and seventh with a 4.45 ERA. The senior is also atop the GNAC fielding ranks, recording 173 putouts and 21 assists without an error.

Dearing ranks sixth in the GNAC with a .379 batting average, fourth with a .500 on-base percentage, first with 45 runs scored, tied for second with 50 hits, tied for first with 32 walks, and tied for first with 21 stolen bases. McFadden's 2.11 ERA was the lowest of any GNAC pitcher that threw at least 10 innings on the season, allowing just five runs in 21.1 innings of work in relief. He was also third in the conference with 13 appearances.

Gonzalez provided power all season long in the Nighthawks' lineup, ranking sixth in the conference with a .673 slugging percentage, tied for sixth with 33 RBI, second with 12 home runs, and tied for first with 32 walks. Keller missed a few games early in the season but came back stronger than ever, finishing 12th in the GNAC with 24 RBI, first with five sacrifice flies. His batting average was also fourth among GNAC hitters with at least 10 at-bats, hitting .402 in 82 at-bats, just missing the qualifying per-game standard for the GNAC top-ten list.

The Nighthawks, winners of the regular season conference title with a 21-3 GNAC record, will now take their top seed into the GNAC Championships this Thursday and Friday, facing off with second-seeded Central Washington in a best-of-three series at Elmore Vail Field in Nampa.