OZARK, Mo. — Zac Wiley always seemed destined for this.

The senior right fielder entered the Bellarmine University baseball program as a heralded recruit out of Collins (Ky.) High School and had already established a distinguished tenure leading into his final season with the Knights. The natural concluding point for his career trajectory in the Great Lakes Valley Conference seemed to be earning Player of the Year accolades, and Wiley officially reached that destination Wednesday night as he was announced as the winner of the esteemed award.

Wiley was also the only unanimous selection on the All-GLVC first team. Sophomore outfielder Matt Higgins and junior catcher Chris Gambert joined Wiley in receiving first-team plaudits, while senior left-hander Eddie Mathis, junior designated hitter Deylen Miley and senior outfielder/pitcher Alex Phillips were named to the second team. Phillips earned notice in both the outfield and as a starting pitcher. With Phillips doubling up, this marked the third straight year in which the Knights hauled in at least seven All-GLVC laurels.

Wiley becomes the fourth player in program history to be voted GLVC Player of the Year following Scott Wiegandt (1989), who is now Bellarmine's Director of Athletics, Patrick Brady (2008) and Austin Crutcher (2015). This is the fourth time in five years Bellarmine has garnered a major GLVC award — Hunter Spencer (2016) and Mathis (2018) reaped Pitcher of the Year recognition in between the Player of the Year acknowledgements for Crutcher and Wiley.

As his newly minted Player of the Year title indicates, Wiley has been a force in the GLVC. He topped the league in the regular season in RBIs (60) and total bases (132) and tied for first with Gambert in home runs with 14. Wiley finished second in the league in doubles (19) and slugging percentage (.721), tied for third in runs scored (57), was fourth in batting average (.388) and on-base percentage (.474) and tied for fourth in hits (71). The Shelbyville, Kentucky, native earned his third straight All-GLVC notice.

Gambert secured his first All-GLVC honor. In addition to tying Wiley for the league's highest home run total with 14, the Louisville native topped the conference in the regular season in slugging percentage (.760) and ranked third in batting average (.390). He's also compiled 13 doubles, 37 RBIs and 32 runs scored while carrying a .461 on-base percentage.

Higgins garnered his first All-GLVC acknowledgement during a breakout sophomore campaign. The Louisville native handily won the league batting title with a .422 average and amassed a league-high 78 hits. Higgins finished the regular season second in the GLVC in RBIs (55) and on-base percentage (.498), third in total bases (128) and slugging percentage (.692) and fifth in runs scored (53) while tying for fifth in doubles (16). He also has two triples.

Mathis completed a career sweep of All-GLVC campaigns. The four-time honoree led the league in the regular season in innings pitched (82.0) and complete games (five), tied for second in wins (eight) and ranked fifth in strikeouts (73). The Pewee Valley, Kentucky, native is 8-2 with a 3.51 ERA. In his final regular-season outing, a 9.0-inning complete-game victory over No. 12 Illinois Springfield, Mathis became the program's all-time career pitching wins leader with 26, breaking a record that had stood since 1979.

Miley has been an impact transfer after coming to Bellarmine from Tiffin. The Bryan, Ohio, native is batting .280 with seven homers, eight doubles, 36 RBIs and 31 runs scored. In addition to designated hitter duties, Miley has spent time at third base and also made six appearances on the mound.

Phillips once again has been a prolific dual threat for the Knights while posting his third consecutive All-GLVC campaign. The Louisville native ranked fifth in the league in the regular season with a .380 batting average. He's registered a team-high 12 stolen bases along with two homers, two triples, nine doubles and 45 runs scored. On the mound, Phillips is 4-1 with a 3.24 ERA, two complete games and 70 strikeouts in 66.2 innings pitched.

Illinois Springfield's Andrew Dean was voted GLVC Pitcher of the Year, Southern Indiana's Lucas McNew was named Freshman of the Year and Missouri S&T's Todd DeGraffenreid was tabbed Coach of the Year.

Bellarmine was honored with the James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award. Gambert was the team's individual recipient.

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2019 GLVC PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Zac Wiley, Sr., OF, Bellarmine
2019 GLVC PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Andrew Dean, Sr., SP, Illinois Springfield
2019 GLVC COACH OF THE YEAR: Todd DeGraffenreid, Missouri S&T
 

FIRST-TEAM ALL-GLVC Chris Monroe, So., 1B, UIS Cody Birdsong, Sr., 2B, QU Aaron Mann, Fr., 3B, DU Macy Holdsworth, Sr., SS, UINDY Cody Klotz, Sr., UT, MU Jeff Hightower, Sr., UT, QU Nathan Mark, So., DH, RU Chris Gambert, Sr., C, BU ZAC WILEY, Sr., OF, BU Matthew Higgins, So., OF, BU Brandon Post, Sr., OF, LEWIS Clayton Engel, Jr., OF, DU Kyle Orloff, Sr., OF, UINDY Andrew Dean, Sr., SP, UIS Nick Stroud, Gr., SP, QU Peter Hamot, Sr., SP, LEWIS Justin Revels, Sr., SP, UIS Dalton Erger, Sr., SP, S&T Alex Austin, Sr., RP, DU Stuart Martin, Sr., RP, S&T

SECOND-TEAM ALL-GLVC Louis Niemerg, Sr., 1B, MU Brandon Bannon, Fr., 2B, UIS Ruban Markham, Jr., 3B, UIS* Garrett McNally, Jr., 3B, RU* Ryan Schefske, Jr., SS, LEWIS Kaden Helsel, Fr., UT, DU Tyler Murphy, Sr., UT, WJC Deylen Miley, Jr., DH, BU John Sechen, Sr., C, UIS Aaron Euler, So., OF, USI Manny Lopez, Jr., OF, USI Alex Phillips, Sr., OF, BU Connor Rutherford, Sr., OF, LEWIS Zach Speaker, Sr., OF, UIS Eddie Mathis, Sr., SP, BU Reid Werner, Jr., SP, UINDY Riley Martin, Jr., SP, QU Jack Eisenbarger, Jr., SP, RU Alex Phillips, Sr., SP, BU Sam Stephens, So., RP, QU Conner Forsythe, Sr., RP, S&T

UNANIMOUS SELECTION IN ALL CAPS
*Additional member due to a tie
 
2019 JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD (BASEBALL)
Bellarmine
 
2019 JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Chris Gambert, BU
Jaydee Duhamell, DU
Zach Abfall, UIS
Jake Sprinkle, UINDY
Brandon Post, LEWIS
Camdon Mercier, MU
Andrew Aydt, MCK
Braden Mahurin, S&T
Koltyn Schilly, UMSL
Carter Naughton, QU
Jack Eisenbarger, RU
Austin Krizan, USI
Mason King, TSU
Trent Bollman, WJC