CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - The Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) baseball coaches have chosen Luther College junior Nate Beckman as the 2016 Pitcher of the Year, Buena Vista University senior Neil Marshall as the Position Player of the Year, and Joel Holst of Wartburg Coach of the Year. The 34-member All-Iowa Conference team was announced as well (16-First Team, 18-Second Team).

Beckman becomes the first Luther player to win Pitcher of the Year since the MVP Award was split in 2008. It is the fifth MVP Award for Luther with Jay Kamin winning it in 1984 and 1985, Kyle Schroeder earning the honor in 2007, and Chris Reynolds being named Position Player of the Year in 2012.

Marshall is the second Position Player of the Year winner for Buena Vista joining Brandon Pietrzyk (2010). He is the seventh Beaver MVP joining Pat McMullen (1970), Jeff Trost (1975, 1976), Dale Knight (1980), Nick Beard (2002), Brandon Pietrzyk (Player-2010), and Jon Ringblom (Pitcher-2014).

It is the 11th time that Wartburg Head Coach Joel Holst has been named IIAC Coach of the Year. He previously won the honor in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2013, 2015, and now 2016. Holst's 11 COY honors are the most in IIAC Baseball history with John Sirianni the next closest at seven. Earnest Oppermann is the only other Wartburg Baseball coach to win the honor. He won it in 1977, 1978, and 1979.

The 2016 First Team All-Iowa Conference Baseball squad has two repeat honorees in Craig Konrardy and Taylor Gilson. Brandon Wessels becomes a three-time first-team selection having earned the honor at catcher in 2013 and 2014.

Position Player of the Year - Neil Marshall, Buena Vista (Alta, Iowa / Alta-Aurelia)
Marshall led the IIAC in six categories and set a new Iowa Conference record with 18 doubles in conference games. In 28 conference games, he led the league in slugging percentage (.835), on base percentage (.524), runs scored (39), doubles (18), total bases (86), and plate appearances (127). He was also second in batting average (.417), hits (43), and RBI (30). Overall, he leads the IIAC in on base percentage (.498), runs (60), hits (64), doubles (25), walks (33), total bases (114), and plate appearances (210). Marshall was a First Team All-IIAC selection in 2014 as a sophomore in the outfield.

On the national scene (as of May 12th) he was among the Top-50 in doubles (1st - 25), runs (2nd - 58), walks (19th - 32), total bases (20th - 111), slugging percentage (31st - .716), and on base percentage (37th - .515). As a team Buena Vista is third in home runs (46), fifth in slugging percentage (.520), 17th in on-base percentage (.418), 17th in runs scored (443), 19th in doubles (96), and 37th in batting average (.326).

Pitcher of the Year - Nate Beckman, Luther (Jordan, Minn. / Jordan)
Beckman was a workhorse for the Norse in conference action. He led the league in wins (6), ERA (2.22), and innings pitched (52.2). He finished the conference season with a 6-2 record with four complete games in seven starts and struck out 26 batters to 11 walks. Overall, he won a league best nine games and pitched 77.2 innings. His ERA was third in the league at 2.90. His nine victories rank ninth in Division III.

Beckman was the winning pitcher in the IIAC Tournament opener vs. Simpson. Beckman is 9-2 overall with five complete games and 41 strikeouts.

Coach of the Year - Joel Holst, Wartburg
Holst took the Knights to the top of the conference again in 2016 winning back-to-back titles. Holst has won 15 IIAC regular season championships and nine IIAC tournament championships. Wartburg led the league from start-to-finish getting off to a 8-0 start including six wins on the road. They also strung together a ten game winning streak from April 19th to May 6th.

The Knights won all seven of the four game series this year with sweeps of Simpson, Central, and Loras. Wartburg won the Buena Vista, Dubuque, Luther, and Coe series 3-1 to finish the Iowa Conference season 24-4. Their 24 wins is a new conference record for wins in a season besting the previous record of 23 by the 1985 Luther team.

All-Iowa Conference Baseball Team
The 2016 All-IIAC Baseball team is made up of 16-first team selections and 18-second team honorees. The 2016 All-IIAC team has at-least one representative from all eight schools with regular season champion Wartburg leading the way with nine selections (4-first team/5-second team). Buena Vista was second with eight honorees (MVP/6-first team/1-second team). Coe (2-first team/3-second team) and Luther (MVP/1-first team/3-second team) tied with five all-conference performers. Dubuque and Simpson tied at three with each placing one on the first team and two on second team. Loras had one selection on each team to make up their two choices. Central placed one on second team as their lone representative.

Experience won out when looking at the breakdown of class for the first team with 10 selections being seniors, six honorees being juniors, and two freshmen making the cut. The second team was also upperclassman heavy with seven seniors, seven juniors, and four sophomores.

NOTE: The MVP's shall have standing as an All-Conference player but is not a member of the first or second team.

The complete 2016 All-Iowa Conference Baseball team is as follows:

2016 All-Iowa Conference Baseball
Position Player of the Year - Neil Marshall, Sr., Buena Vista
Pitcher of the Year - Nate Beckman, Jr., Luther
Coach of the Year - Joel Holst, Wartburg
First Team	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Parker Bolt &	Wartburg	Sr.	SP	Reinbeck, Iowa / Gladbrook-Reinbeck
Taylor Gilson ^	Wartburg	Jr.	SP	Oelwein, Iowa / Oelswein
Jacob Hadaway	Buena Vista	Jr.	SP	Sheldahl, Iowa / North Polk
Tyson Valentine	Buena Vista	Sr.	SP	Ankeny, Iowa / Ankeny
Wes Onken	Buena Vista	Sr.	RP	Jefferson, Iowa / East Greene
Mitch Knippenberg	Luther	Sr.	C	Lakeville, Minn. / St. Agnes
Brandon Wessels # @	Buena Vista	Sr.	1B	Palmer, Iowa / Manson-Northwest Webster
Austin Konagel	Loras	Fr.	2B	Frankfort, Ill. / Lincoln-Way North
Tanner Johnson	Wartburg	Sr.	3B	Oak Creek, Wis. / Oak Creek
Craig Konrardy ^ $	Coe	Sr.	SS	Waterloo, Iowa / Columbus
Austin Burlin	Simpson	Sr.	OF	Chariton, Iowa / Chariton
Kevin DeLaney	Coe	Fr.	OF	Coralville, Iowa / West
Jake Thumann %	Wartburg	Jr.	OF	DeWitt, Iowa / Central Clinton-DeWitt
Tanner Truesdell & $	Buena Vista	Sr.	OF	Clear Lake, Iowa / Clear Lake
Kendall Candor	Buena Vista	Jr.	DH	Merrill, Iowa / Le Mars
Austin McWhite	Dubuque	Jr.	UT	Orlando, Fla. / Wekiva
Second Team	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Tanner Eckhart	Wartburg	So.	SP	Monticello, Minn. / Monticello
Ben Jacobson	Coe	Jr.	SP	Ottosen, Iowa / Humboldt
Max Langheinrich &	Wartburg	Jr.	SP	Minnetonka, Minn. / Minnetonka
Blake Peterson	Luther	Sr.	SP	Baxter, Minn. / Brainerd
Reed Stumpf	Dubuque	Jr.	SP	Dubuque, Iowa / Hempstead
Mark Schroeder	Central	Sr.	RP	Chariton, Iowa / Chariton
Bud Smith	Simpson	Sr.	C	Runnels, Iowa / Southeast Polk
Ryan Koester	Loras	So.	1B	West Chicago, Ill. / West Chicago
Jon Opdahl	Luther	Jr.	2B	Minneapolis, Minn. / Southwest
Dalton Garst ^	Dubuque	Jr.	3B	Winnebago, Ill. / Winnebago
Joe Silversmith	Luther	Jr.	3B	St. Paul, Minn. / Highland Park
Clay Henning	Wartburg	So.	SS	Plymouth, Wis. / Plymouth Comprehensive
Ryan Kemp & #	Wartburg	Sr.	OF	Keokuk, Iowa / Keokuk
Blake Mahoney	Wartburg	So.	OF	Des Moines, Iowa / Lincoln
Bennett Mann ^	Buena Vista	Sr.	OF	Marshalltown, Iowa / Marshalltown
Michael Redmond	Coe	Sr.	OF	Marion, Iowa / Linn-Mar
Andrew Brierton	Coe	Jr.	DH	Cary, Ill. / Cary Grove
Gage Reis	Simpson	Sr.	UT	Coon Rapids, Iowa / Coon Rapids-Bayard
Honorable Mention	School	Year	Pos.	Hometown/High School
Noah Paper	Buena Vista	So.	SS	West Fargo, N.D. / West Fargo
Spencer Gritsch	Central	Sr.	OF	Brooklyn, Iowa BGM
Cody Reimer	Luther	Jr.	UT	Peosta, Iowa / Western Dubuque
Previous Honors
^ - 2015 First Team All-IIAC			# - 2014 First Team All-IIAC
& - 2015 Second Team All-IIAC			$ - 2014 Second Team All-IIAC
% - 2015 Position POY			@ - 2013 First Team All-IIAC
			- 2013 Second Team All-IIAC