CSUN’s Gillespie, Shanahan Earn All-Conference Honors

Cal State Northridge baseball standouts Eric Gillespie and Jason Shanahan, who tied for the team lead in batting with a .342 average, were selected to the All-Western Athletic Conference West Division team.

Shanahan, a junior first baseman, won the conference triple crown, batting .416 in WAC play with six home runs and 30 runs batted in. He led the Matadors in homers (nine), RBIs (50) and stolen bases (seven). Shanahan, a switch-hitter from Missoula, Mont., homered against each West Division foe. He hit .394 against left-handers and .318 against right-handers.

Gillespie, a freshman catcher from Long Beach Millikan High, hit six homers and had 42 RBIs, despite spending most of the season batting leadoff. He hit safely in 47 of 55 games and led the team with 80 hits.

Gillespie, who bats left-handed, had 22 multihit games and never went two consecutive games without a hit. He struck out only 17 times in 234 at-bats and hit safely in 21 of 24 WAC games.

Gillespie and Shanahan are expected to play this summer for the Mat-su Miners of the Alaskan Summer League.

Wyoming’s Jim Gattis, a North Hollywood product, was named the WAC East Division coach of the year.