Hawaii junior Tyler Brashears was named to the All-Big West Conference first team on Tuesday, becoming the first UH player ever to earn the honor.
Left-hander Quintin Torres-Costa was named to the second team, while shortstop Jacob Sheldon-Collins, designated hitter Alex Sawelson and reliever Andrew Jones earned honorable mention honors.
Brashears, who equaled the most wins by a UH pitcher since 2007 at 8-5 overall, was 5-2 in seven BWC starts.
He finished second in the league in ERA at 1.59, trailing only Cal State Fullerton’s Thomas Eshelman, who finished with a 1.57 ERA to earn the BWC pitcher of the year award.
"I think it’s an honor because there are some great pitchers in the league and I’m fortunate to get first team," Brashears said. "I know (Dillon) Tate, Eshelman and (Chris) Mathewson all had good years, so I didn’t know how it would play out."
UC Santa Barbara’s Tate joined Eshelman, Long Beach State’s Mathewson, who was the freshman pitcher of the year, and Brashears on the first team as starting pitchers.
Two relievers and a closer made the first team, with Torres-Costa listed as one of two closers and one more relief pitcher to make the second team.
Torres-Costa, a redshirt sophomore, led the BWC with eight saves in conference games and did not allow a run in 12 appearances spanning 181⁄3 innings.
He gave up nine hits and nine walks with 24 strikeouts to average 11.78 strikeouts per nine innings, ranking third in the league.
Prior to this season, only right-hander Matt Cooper in 2014 had made the second team for UH since joining the conference in 2013.
Infielder Pi‘ikea Kitamura was the last UH player to make a conference first team when he made the Western Athletic Conference squad in 2012.
Jones, a senior, went 1-1 with a save and a 2.20 ERA in 161⁄3 innings in conference play with 13 strikeouts.
Sheldon-Collins, who led Hawaii overall with a .295 batting average, hit .316 in 24 league games with three doubles, two triples and 11 runs scored.
Sawelson hit .303 in league play with seven doubles, a triple and 13 RBIs.
Sheldon-Collins and Sawelson are expected to return for their senior seasons.
UCSB’s Cameron Newell and Cal State Fullerton’s David Olmedo-Barrera shared the field player of the year honors, while the Titans’ Rick Vanderhook was named coach of the year.
UCI’s Keston Hiura was the freshman field player of the year and Cal Poly shortstop Peter Van Gansen was the defensive player of the year.
Hawaii finished .500 in conference for the first time time at 12-12, marking a six-game improvement from last season.