Klug Earns NCBWA’s West Region Player of Year Nod, Borchers on All-Region First Team
Klug gets third post-season honor
May 25, 2006

Carson, CA -- Though their season abruptly and unexpectedly ended more than two weeks ago, the honors continue to roll in for junior Jason Klug (Moreno Valley, CA/San Bernardino Valley College). Thursday morning he was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s (NCBWA) West Region Player of the Year, two days after earning the American Baseball Coaches Association’s West Region Player of the Year honors and two weeks after being named the California Collegiate Athletic Association’s Player of the Year. Chris Borchers (Torrance, CA/LA Harbor College) also was named to the 1st-Team after earning a similar ABCA honor and the CCAA Pitcher of the Week award.

With these selections, as voted on by a committee of sports information directors from four member institutions and three conference information directors from within the 25-member West Region, Klug and Borchers now are eligible for NCBWA Division II All-American status.

In winning the West Region Player of the Year, Klug edged out Western Oregon’s Boo Christenson for top honors as he batted .405 with 11 home runs, and 56 runs batted in for the Toros, who won the CCAA regular-season title. In conference games alone, the Moreno Valley native hit .420 with 10 doubles, 7 home runs and 35 RBI, finishing 2nd in the league with a .432 on-base percentage and 3rd with a .697 slugging percentage.

A Torrance native, Borchers posted a team-best 9-2 record and 3.33 ERA amongst starters, finishing 2nd in strikeouts. In the CCAA, the senior boasted a 6-1 record in eight starts, with two wins coming via complete games. Borchers’ 3.09 ERA over 55.1 innings of CCAA work placed him 5th, while opponents hit just .230 against him. A strikeout specialist, Borchers compiled a 4.27:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio in conference (47/11), and a 4.8:1 ratio overall (72/15).

In other individual categories, Western Oregon’s Nick Waechter was selected as the West Region Pitcher of the Year while WOU’s Jeremiah Robbins was a near unanimous choice for the region’s Coach of the Year.

With their 1st-Team All-West Region selections, Klug and Borchers now are eligible for NCBWA All-America consideration, which will be released at the end of the month.