IRVING, Texas – UTSA senior outfielder Mason Lytle and Charlotte junior pitcher Blake Gillespie each earned two major awards as the American Athletic Conference announced the 2025 baseball honors on Monday, May 19. The honors were voted on by the league’s head coaches.
Lytle was honored as the unanimous Player of the Year and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, while Gillespie was named The American’s Pitcher of the Year and Newcomer Pitcher of the Year. UAB junior third baseman Todd Clay and UTSA junior outfielder Drew Detlefsen were honored as the league’s Newcomer Position Players of the Year, while UTSA’s Pat Hallmark was unanimously named the Coach of the Year by his peers.
Regular season champion UTSA had five selections on the all-conference first team, while seven American squads had at least one first-team honoree.
Player of the Year
Defensive Player of the Year
Mason Lytle, Sr., OF, UTSA
Lytle leads The American in runs scored (67), hits (86) and doubles (20) and is second in the league in hitting (.371) and runs batted in (62). Lytle was the 2024 American Newcomer Position Player of the Year and a first-team all-conference selection. In the field, Lytle has a fielding percentage of .994 and has six assists from the outfield. He is the first Roadrunner to earn the Player of the Year or Defensive Player of the Year honor in The American.
Pitcher of the Year
Newcomer Pitcher of the Year
Blake Gillespie, Jr., P, Charlotte
Gillespie is 6-4 on the season with a 2.53 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 92.1 innings after transferring from Georgia. His 118 strikeouts are fourth in Division I and his WHIP of 0.90 is ninth in D1. He threw a no-hitter against James Madison on March 7 with 11 strikeouts. He struck out 10 or more batters five times this season. He is the first 49er to earn a major American baseball award.
Newcomer Position Player of the Year
Todd Clay, Jr., 3B, UAB
Clay is third in The American in batting (.361), fourth in hits (69) and fifth in runs batted in (51) after transferring from Pensacola State. He recorded 18 multi-hit games and drove in two or more runs in 16 contests. He is the first Blazer to earn Newcomer Position Player of the Year in The American.
Newcomer Position Player of the Year
Drew Detlefsen, Jr., OF, UTSA
Detlefsen leads The American in RBI (69), 15
th in Division I after transferring from Doge City Junior College. He is second in runs scored with 60, tied for third in doubles (17) and tied for fifth in the league with 13 home runs. He is the second Roadrunner to earn Newcomer Position Player of the Year, joining Lytle in 2024.
Coach of the Year
Pat Hallmark, UTSA
Hallmark led UTSA to its first American regular season title with a 23-4 conference record and 42-11 record overall. The Roadrunners have a winning percentage of 79.2 percent, tied for third-best in Division I, and is ninth in scoring at 9.1 runs per game.
All-Conference First Team
P – Blake Gillespie, Jr., Charlotte*
P – Trey Beard, So., Florida Atlantic
P – Corey Braun, R-Jr., South Florida
RP – Michael Lombardi, Tulane
RP – Robert Orloski, So., UTSA*
C – Andrew Stucky, Sr., UTSA
1B – Cody Gunderson, Jr., Charlotte
2B – Connor Rasmussen, Jr., Tulane
SS – Ty Hodge, R-Jr., UTSA
3B – Dawson Bryce, So., Charlotte
OF – Marshall Lipsey, Jr., Florida Atlantic
OF – Mason Lytle, Sr., UTSA*
OF – James Taussig, Sr., UTSA
DH – Blaine Brown, Fr., Rice
UTL – Colby Wallace, So., East Carolina
All-Conference Second Team
P – Colin Daniel, Jr., UAB
P – Ethan Norby, So., East Carolina
P – Davion Hickson, Jr., Rice
RP – MJ Bollinger, So., Florida Atlantic
RP – Jack Nedrow, Sr., South Florida
C – Logan Poteet, R-So., Charlotte
1B – Sebastian Greico, Sr., South Florida
2B – Jordan Ballin, Fr., UTSA
SS – Brando Leroux, Sr., Florida Atlantic
3B – Todd Clay, Jr., UAB
OF – Logan Braunschweig, Sr., UAB
OF – Braden Burress, Fr., East Carolina
OF – Drew Detlefsen, Jr., UTSA
DH – Gavin Schulz, Sr., Tulane
UTL – Seth Cox, Sr., Memphis
All-Freshman Team
Brendan Connor, P, UAB
Braden Burress, INF, East Carolina*
Austin Irby, INF, East Carolina
James Litman, P, Florida Atlantic
Hiram Bocachica Jr., INF, Rice
Blaine Brown, P/OF, Rice*
Michael Zito, INF, Rice
Jordan Ballin, 2B, UTSA
Nathan Hodge, UTL, UTSA
Caden Miller, UTL, UTSA
Tanner Chun, OF, Tulane
Jason Wachs, OF, Tulane*
* denotes unanimous selection