From K-State Athletics
K-State junior Will Brennan was named to the 2019 Preseason All-Big 12 Team in a vote of the league’s head coaches, the conference office announced Wednesday.
Brennan, a two-way player for K-State, was selected to the 17-member preseason team as a utility player after a First Team All-Big 12 season a year ago.
In 2018, the 6-foot junior led the Wildcats in batting average (.359), hits (79), doubles (13), runs (49) and on-base percentage (.454) in his sophomore season. Brennan has led K-State in average each of the last two seasons. On the mound, the left-hander went 2-1 with a 3.86 ERA and 30 strikeouts and seven walks in nine games.
For the second straight season, the Stilwell product was the toughest in the Big 12 to strike out, going 20.0 at-bats per strikeout (220 at-bats, 11 strikeouts) – the eighth-best rate in the country. Brennan also had a team-high 23 multi-hit games and strung together seven consecutive games with multiple hits from February 21-March 4 and later registered back-to-back four-hit games. He ended the season on an 11-game on-base streak and earlier snapped a career-long 42-game on-base streak, going back to 2017.
Brennan made nine appearances on the mound, including five starts, and totaled 28 innings pitched while making four consecutive weekend starts during the second half of league play. In conference action, he posted a team-low 3.92 ERA (9 ER, 20.2 IP) in four starts with 20 strikeouts against five walks. Overall, Brennan’s 4.3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (30 strikeouts, 7 walks) and 2.3 walks per nine innings led the Wildcats last season.
He adds to his trophy case after he was named First Team All-Big 12 in 2018 and tabbed a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball along with Big 12 All-Freshman honors in 2017. Brennan was also named Big 12 Player of the Week on March 12 last year in addition to being named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week twice during his freshman season.
The Wildcats open their 2019 season on Friday, February 15 with a four-game series at CSUN. The Cats will have a total of eight road games in Southern California before their home opener on March 1 against San Francisco.
