Nevada's Shrum named Mountain West Baseball Player of the Year

Bruce chosen as Coach of The Year; five Wolf Pack players named to first team

RENO – Following a historic 2021 campaign, the Nevada baseball team placed a league-high seven players on the 2021 All-Mountain West team, led by senior Dillan Shrum earning Tony Gwynn Player of the Year honors and T.J. Bruce being named the league's Coach of the Year.

This is the second Coach of the Year honor for Bruce after he also earned the award in 2018.

This is the first Player of the Year award for Shrum and is Nevada's first Player of the Year since Grant Fennell also won it in 2018.

In addition to his Player of the Year honor, Shrum was also selected to the All-Mountain West first team along with Tyler Bosetti, Dario Gomez, Cam Walty and Shane Gustafson. 

Jake Jackson and Joshua Zamora both earned All-MW second team honors.

T.J. Bruce – Coach of the Year

It was a historic season for the Wolf Pack in 2021 as Bruce led his squad to its third Mountain West regular season title and first since 2018. With that regular season conference championship the Pack earned its first automatic bid to NCAA Regionals since 2000 and its fifth overall in program history. Bruce and the Wolf Pack finished the regular season with a 25-18 overall record and was 22-9 in league action. Nevada was nearly unbeatable down the stretch as it went 11-2 in the month of May and rattled off 15 consecutive wins in Mountain West play to close the regular season. Bruce has also produced one of the best offenses in all of college baseball as the Pack currently ranks in the top five nationally in batting average (.321), doubles per game (2.44) and slugging percentage (.535). Nevada is also third in the nation in double plays per game (1.02).

 Dillan Shrum – Player of the Year; All-MW First Team

For Shrum this is his first Player of the Year honor and his first selection to the All-Mountain West team. It has been a career season for the senior as he finished the regular season as the national leader in both batting average (.479) and slugging percentage (.992). His 15 home runs are a single-season career-high and led the conference, as did his .521 on base percentage. Other single season career totals Shrum has hit this year include hits (58), RBI (47) and runs scored (35) and all in a shortened season at just 33 games. During league play, which spanned just 21 games for Shrum, he batted an incredible .550 with 44 hits, 12 home runs, 10 doubles, 36 RBI and 31 runs in 80 at-bats. 

He was named the MW Player of the Week following the final week of the regular season after he went 12-for-15 at the plate with six home runs during the series against SJSU. Shrum has also gotten it done with the glove as he has recorded just one error on the year and added 250 putouts and 10 assists.