COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Robert Sharrar entered the season as the preemptive favorite for RMAC Player of the Year honors.
After a slow start, with only six hits in his first 34 at-bats, the Colorado Mesa senior outfielder found his stroke and finished the regular season hitting .408 and leading the Mavericks to their 12th consecutive RMAC regular-season title.
On Wednesday, the senior center fielder from Newbury Park, Calif., was chosen as the RMAC co-Player of the Year by the conference coaches, one of four first-team selections for the Mavericks. He shares the award with Adams State shortstop Mike Bathauer.
Sharrar, who hit in the leadoff spot much of the season, led the Mavericks with 76 RBI and 166 total bases with an on-base percentage of .460. He hit 19 doubles and 19 home runs with an OPS of 1.247 and a slugging percentage of .787. He ranks first in the RMAC in RBI and hits (86) and is second in home runs. Sharrar provided one of the most memorable plays of the season when he hit a three-run walk-off home run in a wild 14-13 victory over Chico State after the Mavericks trailed 8-0 in the third inning.
Defensively, Sharrar has 91 putouts in 93 chances, a fielding percentage of .978 in center field. He had a three-week run as the RMAC Player of the Week from March 19-April 2. In that 12-game stretch, Sharrar hit .596 (31 for 52) with eight home runs, 24 RBI and scored 20 runs.
His fellow outfielder, Ethan Nunez, was selected the Freshman Player of the Year after hitting .346 with 10 home runs. Nunez, from Chino Hills, Calif., started in 38 games and played in 41, primarily in right field, and drove in 43 runs, hitting 11 doubles with an on-base percentage of .458.
Nunez had a memorable game against Colorado School of Mines, going 5 for 5 with two doubles and five RBI. He had a four-RBI game against MSU Denver, had multiple hits in a dozen games and drove in more than one run 11 times.
He had 72 putouts in 73 chances, with one error, for a .986 fielding percentage.
Joining Sharrar on the first team are pitchers Cole Seward and Caleb Ruter and second baseman Jonathan Gonzalez.
Seward emerged as the staff ace, with an 8-1 record and two complete games in 12 starts. The junior right-hander from Placentia, Calif., has a 5.76 ERA with 19 walks and 59 strikeouts in 59.1 innings pitched.
He struck out a season-high eight men in a five-inning stint against CSU Pueblo and threw a complete-game 5-hitter against Northwest Nazarene. Seward's only loss was a 3-1 pitchers' duel against RMAC Freshman Pitcher of the Year Jadrian Martinez, a 3-1 CMU loss to New Mexico Highlands. Seward allowed four hits and struck out six.
Ruter, a junior left-hander from Arvada who transferred to CMU from Southeast Community College (Neb.), was outstanding as both a reliever and starter. He compiled a 4-0 record with three saves in 11 appearances. After pitching out of the bullpen early on in the season, Ruter worked his way into the starting rotation early in the conference season and has 51 strikeouts and 24 walks in 44 innings of work.
Gonzalez, a senior from Brawley, Calif., missed a handful of games early in the season with an injury but is second to Sharrar on the team with a .406 batting average, 13 doubles, nine home runs and 51 RBI in 43 games. His speed led to 11 stolen bases in 11 attempts, and he was solid — and often flashy — up the middle, turning 19 double plays and finishing the regular season with a .958 fielding percentage.
First baseman Braden Winget earned a spot on the Gold Glove team with a .995 fielding percentage. He made only one error in 218 chances, with 202 putouts, 15 assists and was in on 17 double plays. The senior from Draper, Utah, who transferred to CMU last year from Salt Lake City Community College, was one of four Mavericks to make the All-RMAC second team.
Winget was third on the team with a .376 batting average with 12 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 35 RBI. Also on the second team are outfielder Kolby Felix, a sophomore from Sun City, Ariz., Christos Stefanos, a junior designated hitter from Stevenson Ranch, Calif., and relief pitcher Ethan Voss, a junior from Burnsville, Minn., a transfer from Crowder College (Mo.).
Felix carries a .434 batting average with 14 home runs and 39 RBI, one of two players who hit for the cycle this season, achieving the feat in order, with two singles, followed by a double, triple and home run, last weekend against Adams State. Stefanos is hitting .382 with 10 doubles, 11 home runs and 44 RBI in 33 games and Voss, a right-hander, is 5-1 with three saves, 47 strikeouts and 11 walks in 44.1 innings.
Nunez and reliever Evan Bunevich, a junior right-hander from Littleton and a transfer from the College of Southern Nevada, made the honorable mention team. Bunevich is 4-1 with one save and a 6.54 ERA.
The No. 16 Mavericks, 34-16, open the RMAC Tournament at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday against CSU Pueblo at The Diamond at Bus Bergman Sports Complex. The opening game between Colorado School of Mines and Adams State is set for noon, with the final game of the first day between Regis and MSU Denver at 7 p.m.
