AZUSA, Calif.-- Azusa Pacific sophomore catcher Stephen Vogt was named GSAC Player of the Year by the conference coaches over the weekend.

“This is a great honor for Stephen and the program,” said Azusa Pacific head coach Paul Svagdis, who guided the Cougars to wins in 7 of their final 9 games. “We are thrilled about his progress and excited about his future. This is an extremely competitive conference with very talented players and for him to be recognized as the best player in this conference is quite an honor and one that is well deserved.”

Sophomore Scott Hodsdon was also named to the All-GSAC team as an infielder.

Vogt becomes the first Cougar to ever be awarded GSAC Player of the Year honors. He led the conference in hitting (.453) and was one of just 3 players in the conference above .400. He also led the GSAC with 67 hits and finished in the top 5 in hits, RBIs, doubles, triples and total bases. In GSAC-play alone, Vogt hit .475 and led the conference with 48 hits, 2 triples, 75 total bases and 38 walks.

He finished with an on-base percentage of .582 and had 46 walks against just 15 strikeouts.

Vogt extended his streak of reaching base safely to 84 straight games, seeing his streak come to an end in a 3-0 loss to The Master’s 2 weeks ago. However, over the past 2 seasons, Vogt has reached base safely in 87 of the 88 games he has played in.

Defensively, Vogt was just as remarkable. As the Cougars catcher, Vogt was instrumental in shaving off nearly 1.5 runs off the Cougars’ ERA from last year. The Cougar staff was third in the GSAC with a 3.90 ERA. He was also third on the team with a .975 fielding percentage and threw out 14-of-39 base stealers.

In his first season as the starting shortstop, Hodsdon hit .325 (51-for-157) with a GSAC best 16 doubles as well as 5 home runs, 5 stolen bases, 32 runs and 29 RBIs. He also made 10 appearances on the mound, going 2-4 with a 3.83 ERA. He tossed 40 innings, allowing just 17 earned runs while striking out 30.

Hodsdon was also named GSAC Player of the Week after having a monster weekend against Westmont. Teammate Zach Pettikas was named GSAC Pitcher of the Week.

In a 3-game sweep of the Warriors, Hodsdon was 6-for-14 (.429) with 8 runs, 7 RBIs, 3 doubles and 2 home runs. He also had 2 walks and 2 stolen bases. He had a pair of game-winning hits and also threw 2 scoreless innings to pick up the win in Friday’s 2-1 extra-inning win.

Pettikas was dominant Thursday night. In picking up the win in the Cougars’ 17-2 victory, Pettikas tossed 8 innings of 3-hit ball, allowing 2 runs while walking just 1 and striking out 8. He had a no-hitter through 7.1 innings of work.