Jeremy Wagner Named CCC Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year; Houle, Rice Tabbed to All-CCC Baseball Third Team

SPRINGFIELD, Mass.- The Eastern Nazarene College baseball team's Jeremy Wagner (Oklahoma City, Okla.) was awarded the Commonwealth Coast Conference Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year while Colton Rice (Mesa, Ariz.) and Brent Houle (Westfield, Mass.) both earned All-Commonwealth Coast Conference third team honors, announced the league office Wednesday.

Wagner, a sports management major, is a three-time Academic All-CCC selection and four-time Dean's List recipient. He has a 3.99 GPA and was recognized as a Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges Recipient. He is also member of the National College Athlete Honor Society – Chi Alpha Sigma. Wagner garnered All-CCC third team accolades as a junior and was a four-year member of the men's basketball and baseball teams at Eastern Nazarene.

This season, Wagner batted .299 and owned an on-base percentage of .357. He paced the Lions with 38 hits, 20 runs scored and 12 stolen bases while adding 11 RBIs. Wagner also racked up a team-best 117 assists and finished the spring with a .946 fielding percentage.

Rice sported a batting average of .241 on the season while hitting .310 with a slugging percentage of .405 on the year in conference play. He collected 27 base knocks, drove in 12 RBIs, scored nine runs and stole nine bases this spring.

Houle led Eastern Nazarene's pitching staff and ranked second in the conference with a 1.51 ERA to go with a 5-2 record on the mound. In eight starts this season, the sophomore right-hander tossed four complete games and worked a total of 47.2 innings. Houle registered 28 strikeouts on the year while allowing just eight earned runs.

The Lions posted a 15-25 overall record with a 2-14 mark in the Commonwealth Coast Conference in 2016.