Bazzana, Brown, Stafford, Ager nab Frosh All-American honors

Wednesday, June 8, Corvallis, Ore. – A former Corvallis Knights star, and three players who will join the 2022 Knights, were named Freshman All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball News on June 8.

The honorees are Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana (left), the 2021 West Coast League MVP with the Knights; OSU relief pitcher Ryan Brown (top right), Cal Poly catcher Ryan Stafford (lower right), and UC Santa Barbara pitcher Matt Ager.

A native of Sydney, Australia, Bazzana anchored second base this spring, with just two errors for a .988 fielding percentage. Heading into this weekend’s NCAA Super Regional matchup with Auburn, he is hitting .308 with 15 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 43 RBIs and 13 stolen bases.

For the Knights, Bazzana was the first player in WCL history to earn the MVP and Top Prospect Award. He won the batting title with a league-record .429 average. He also led the league in runs (46), hits (81), total bases (112), triples (5) and slugging percentage (.593), helping the Knights garner their fifth straight league championship.

A Salem native and South Salem High School graduate, Brown was a first-team Pacific-12 Conference all-star and is second in the league with nine saves. He is 5-1 with a 5.23 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 31 innings.

A native of Folsom, Calif., Stafford was a first-team Big West Conference all-star. He hit .321 with 16 doubles, one triple, three home runs and 33 RBIs. His six sacrifice flies led the conference; his 79 hits were second.

During the season he had a 12-game hitting streak, going 26-for-51 (.510) with three doubles, a triple, one home run and 16 RBIs. He also threw out 11 would-be base stealers and picked off four other base runners.

Ager is from Foothill High School in Pleasanton, Calif. He was second-team all-Big West Conference and was 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA in 23 games, with five saves and 42  strikeouts in 38 innings. He allowed just 12 earned runs in the 23 appearances.

The Knights (3-1 overall, 3-0 WCL) resume play at 7:05 Friday with the opener of a three-game series at the Portland Pickles. Their home opener is set for 6:35 p.m. on June 17 against the Yakima Valley Pippins.

Collegiate Baseball News 2022 Freshman All-American team