Pintar named WCC Freshman of the Year; four other Cougars also receive honors

SAN MATEO, Calif. – Freshman second baseman Andrew Pintar headlined five BYU baseball student-athletes who received West Coast Conference post-season honors on Wednesday.

Pintar was one of 13 individuals named to the 2021 All-WCC Baseball First Team and was named the Freshman of the Year, along with Luke Keaschall of San Francisco. He was also named to the All-WCC Freshman Team. 

Senior centerfielder Mitch McIntyre and sophomore right fielder Cole Gambill were named to the 13-member second team, while sophomore right hander pitcher Reid McLaughlin and freshman righty Carter Smith were named honorable mention.

A Spanish Fork, Utah native, Pintar finished Top 10 in WCC play in 10 offensive categories including first in total bases (72); second in hits (38), home runs (9) and slugging percentage (.686), third in batting average (.362), RBI (23) and triples (3). He was fourth in runs (23), and ninth in on-base percentage (.427) and at-bats (105). He was named WCC Player of the Week and Collegiate Baseball News National Player of the Week on May 10.

Pintar is the first Cougar to be named WCC Freshman of the Year since 2016 when outfielder Keaton Kringlen received the honor. BYU outfielder Jacob Hannemann also won the award in 2013.

McIntyre was an ironman for the Cougars this season starting all 50 games in the outfield. The lefty from Stansbury Park, Utah finished Top 10 in WCC play in eight offensive categories including first in games played (27), plate appearances, (131) and walks (22). He was fifth in hits (34), seventh in total bases (53) and eighth in doubles (8), on base percentage (.435) and at bats (107). He also led the WCC in fielding percentage and was named WCC Player of the Week and Collegiate Baseball News National Player of the Week on May 24. McIntyre is an All-WCC repeat selection, having been named second team in 2019.

Gambill also played in all 50 games for BYU, starting the majority of the games in right field. The lefty from Alpine, Utah finished Top 10 in WCC play in eight offensive categories including fourth in home runs (6) and total bases (59), fifth in walks (17) and sixth in runs (22). He was seventh in RBI (20), doubles (9) and slugging percentage (.584) and ninth in triples. Gambill was named WCC Player of the Week on May 3.

McLaughlin was 2-0 with two saves and a 2.81 ERA in 12 relief appearances for BYU in WCC games. The sophomore from Scottsdale, Arizona pitched 16 innings, allowing just five earned runs and two walks with 10 strikeouts. He led the Cougars in saves (2) and was second in ERA (2.81), wins (2) and batting average against (.267). McLaughlin was previously named to the 2019 All-WAC Freshman Team and was also honored by Collegiate Baseball News as a Freshman All-American.

Smith was 1-2 in WCC games with two saves. The freshman from Lehi, Utah was sixth in the WCC in strikeouts per game, seventh in saves (2) and 13th in total appearances (11). He also had the 15th best ERA (3.94) and was 16th in strikeouts (34), appearances (12) and saves (2). Smith led BYU in saves (2) and was second in strikeouts (34) during the conference season.

Conference awards were voted on by the league’s 10 head coaches and were based on conference games only.