UNLV's Eric Nielsen is the MWC Player of the Year.
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2004 All-Mountain West Conference Baseball Team Announced

UNLV's Eric Nielsen, SDSU's Scott Shoemaker earn individual honors.

May 25, 2004

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The Mountain West Conference announced its 2004 baseball all-conference team and postseason awards today as selected by the league's head coaches. UNLV right fielder Eric Nielsen earned Player of the Year honors, while San Diego State righthander Scott Shoemaker was named Pitcher of the Year. Aztec skipper Tony Gwynn was selected as Coach of the Year.

Regular-season champion San Diego State headlined this year's all-conference squad with 10 selections. UNLV had five student-athletes on the all-conference team, while New Mexico and Utah each had four honorees and BYU had three. This year's team was made up of 14 seniors, six juniors, three sophomores and three freshmen.

Nielsen, a 6-0, 210-pound junior outfielder from Las Vegas, led the MWC (conference games) in batting average (.459), hits (56), runs (45), RBI (57) and home runs (13). Nielsen is the first MWC player to lead the league in batting average, RBI and home runs in the overall and conference only statistics, and his 57 RBI in league play shattered the previous record of 45 set by last year's MWC Player of the Year Fernando Valenzuela, Jr. He was just one hit and one home run shy of conference records in both categories and he is just the third player in MWC history to top 80 RBI in a season (81). Overall, Nielsen is the only player in the MWC to hit over .400 this year (.414) and he committed just three errors in right field in 121 chances.

Shoemaker, a 6-4, 210-pound senior transfer from San Diego, Calif., posted a 6-1 record in MWC games with a league-best 3.95 ERA and 52 strikeouts. He held MWC opponents to a .279 batting average this season in 10 appearances. Overall, he posted a league-high 106 strikeouts and set the MWC record with 45 fanned looking. He also posted league highs for innings pitched (103.2) and games started (18).

Gwynn, in his second season with San Diego State, led the Aztecs to the regular season title with a 19-9 record and a No. 1 seed in this year's MWC Championship. Gwynn has an overall record of 62-59 with SDSU.

Position	Name	Team	Ht.	Wt.	Yr.	Hometown/Previous School
Infielder (SS)	Brandon Taylor	BYU	6-2	190	Sr.	Orem, Utah/UVSC
Infielder (SS)	*Josh Mader	New Mexico	6-0	180	Jr.	Albuquerque, N.M./Cibola HS
Infielder (1B)	Dan Stovall	New Mexico	6-1	200	Fr.	Midland, Texas/Midland HS
Infielder (1B)	Rielly Embrey	San Diego State	6-2	200	Sr.	Poway, Calif./Poway HS
Infielder (SS)	James Guerrero	San Diego State	5-8	175	So.	Fontana, Calif./Fontana HS
Infielder (2B)	*Jared Pena	Utah	5-8	175	Jr.	Riverton, Utah/Salt Lake CC
Outfielder (CF)	Ryan Chambers	BYU	6-0	165	Jr.	Yucaipa, Calif./Yucaipa HS
Outfielder (CF)	Matt Young	New Mexico	5-8	170	Jr.	Murphy, Texas/Plano East HS
Outfielder (CF)	Landon Burt	San Diego State	5-10	180	Sr.	Palm Springs, Calif./La Quinta HS
Outfielder (RF)	Jake McLintock	San Diego State	6-1	190	Jr.	Bonita, Calif./Bonita Vista HS
Outfielder (RF)	Eric Nielsen	UNLV	6-0	210	Jr.	Las Vegas, Nev./Silverado HS
Outfielder (CF)	Brent Johnson	UNLV	6-2	190	Sr.	Las Vegas, Nev./Durango HS
Outfielder (CF)	*Matt Ciaramella	Utah	6-1	175	So.	Salt Lake City, Utah/Skyline HS
Outfielder (RF)	Eric Chevalier	Utah	5-11	208	Sr.	Auburn, Wash./Tacoma CC
Utility/DH	Joe Salas	New Mexico	5-10	190	Sr.	Albuquerque, N.M./Rio Grande HS
Utility/DH	Brock Ungricht	San Diego State	5-10	190	Fr.	San Diego, Calif./Mission Bay HS
Utility/DH	Jay Brossman	Utah	6-1	195	Fr.	Pullman, Wash./Pullman HS
Catcher	Jordan Swaydan	San Diego State	6-2	190	So.	La Verne, Calif./Bishop Amat HS
Pitcher	*Paul Jacinto	BYU	6-0	190	Sr.	Encinitas, Calif./LaCosta HS
Pitcher	*Drew Jenson	San Diego State	6-2	200	Sr.	Lakeside, Calif./El Capitan HS
Pitcher	Scott Shoemaker	San Diego State	6-4	210	Sr.	San Diego, Calif./Long Beach State
Pitcher	Daryl Harang	San Diego State	6-2	215	Sr.	San Diego, Calif./Patrick Henry HS
Pitcher	Jake Vose	UNLV	5-10	180	Sr.	Las Vegas, Nev./CCSN
Pitcher	David Seccombe	UNLV	6-0	200	Sr.	Las Vegas, Nev./Cimarron Mem. HS
Relief Pitcher	Ryan Schroyer	San Diego State	6-1	220	Sr.	Oracle, Ariz./Arizona State
Relief Pitcher	Ben Scheinbaum	UNLV	6-5	215	Sr.	Las Vegas, Nev./Green Valley HS

Player of the Year: Eric Nielsen, UNLV
Pitcher of the Year: Scott Shoemaker, San Diego State
Coach of the Year: Tony Gwynn, San Diego State