GLIAC -- The Wayne State University baseball team was honored with four of the five major All-GLIAC awards as announced by the league on Thursday. The four Warriors being recognized included head coach Ryan Kelley, as Coach of the Year; Rudy Ramirez (Brighton, Mich.) as Player of the Year; Karter Fitzpatrick (Monroe, Mich. / Carleton Airport) as Pitcher of the Year; and Tony Hatzigeorgiou (Oxford, Mich.) as Freshman Player of the Year.
 
Kelley has been named GLIAC Coach of the Year for the second time in his career, the other being in 2010, after guiding his program to the GLIAC Regular-Season Championship.  The 15th-year skipper joins Angelo Gust (1980-82) and Jay Alexander (2005 and 2008) as Wayne State head coaches to receive the honor multiple times.

Kelley's second honor comes after leading the Warriors to 38 wins (38-10), the most in program history passing the previous mark of 37 set just last season.  WSU also racked up 24 GLIAC wins (24-6), which is tied for the most in school history (1999).  During the course of the season, Wayne State was ranked as high as No. 7 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Poll.
 
Ramirez is the program's first GLIAC Player of the Year since catcher Brad Guenther in 2013, and the sixth in program history joining Frank Jeney in 2005 was a shortstop; John Miele in 1999 was a catcher; Mark Limback in 1982 was a catcher; and Joe Paglino in 1981 was a second baseman.  Ramirez started all 48 of Wayne State's games in left field and finished with a .384 batting average (66-for-172).  That clip was good for second in the league while his .423 conference average (47-for-111) was the best.  The six-foot slugger also finished first in the league in runs scored (53), doubles (17), and RBI (58), second in total bases (107), sacrifice flies (6), and slugging percentage (.622), third in hits (66), and fifth in both home runs (6) and stolen bases (15-for-16).
 
Fitzpatrick is the third Wayne State hurler to garner GLIAC Pitcher of the Year honors in the last four seasons it's been awarded joining Ryan Korolden (2022) and Hunter Brown (2019).  The 6-5 right-hander's 2.15 ERA was good for second in the conference and came thanks in part to a league-leading seven complete games. Fitzpatrick struck out 63 batters and walked just 12 in his 67 innings pitched with a .243 batting average against.  He pitched two shutouts, at Purdue Northwest on April 2 and vs. Davenport on May 6, and gave up just three earned runs in his final 21 innings pitched of the regular season.
 
Hatzigeorgiou is the school's first GLIAC Freshman Player of the Year since Hunter DeLanoy in 2019 and fifth since it was first awarded in 1992.  The distinction comes after Hatzigeorgiou finished the regular season 7-for-11 (.636 batting average), was given the final GLIAC Player of the Week honor of 2023 and raised his season average above the .300 mark at .315 (41-for-130).  In just league games, the 5-11 rookie hit .333 (26-for-78) while appearing as both a third baseman and designated hitter.