ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Indiana State claimed three of the Missouri Valley's annual baseball specialty awards as Coach Mitch Hannahs (Dan Callahan Coach of the Year), Connor Fenlong (Pitcher of the Year), and Grant Magill (Defensive Player of the Year) were all honored by the conference office on Monday evening.
 

Hannahs was voted the MVC Dan Callahan Coach of the Year for the first time during his tenure at Indiana State. It marked the sixth time an ISU coach has been honored with the annual award as voted on by the league's head coaches, SIDs, and select media members.
 
The Sycamores were selected fourth overall in the 2023 MVC Preseason Poll prior to the start of the regular season. ISU started off the year slow with the Sycamores posting a 2-8 record over their first 10 games and an 8-11 mark prior to the start of Missouri Valley play in mid-March.
 
ISU started to put it all together at the start of conference play as the Sycamores put together a mark that has not been equaled in program history. Indiana State posted series wins over all nine MVC weekends on their way to finishing with a 24-3 record in conference play. ISU's 24 wins in conference play equaled the third-most wins in MVC competition since 2000. The six-game lead in the MVC standings equaled the largest margin to win the conference regular season title since 1998.
 
The Sycamores' conference mark highlighted a 30-3 stretch to finish the 2023 season. The Sycamores entered the final week of the regular season ranked in five of the six major baseball polls, while sitting in the top 10 in the NCAA in RPI in four of the last five weeks dating back to early April.
 
Indiana State enters the postseason sitting in the NCAA Top 20 in seven different statistical categories including fielding percentage (.984, 2nd), WHIP (1.25, 6th), ERA (3.94, 9th), Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings (3.23, 10th), Shutouts (5, 13th), Hit by Pitch (98, 18th), and Hits Allowed Per Nine Innings (8.04, 18th).
 
Hannahs became the first ISU coach to win the conference's annual award since Rick Heller claimed the award back in 2012.
 

Fenlong became just the second Indiana State pitcher in program history to win the conference's Pitcher of the Year award and first since Geremy Guerrero claimed the honors in 2021. The redshirt senior took over a starting weekend role this season after two years as one of the top relievers in the Valley including earning First Team All-Conference honors in 2021 as ISU's primary closer.
 
The Gouverneur, N.Y. native finished the year as the Missouri Valley leader in both wins (9) and innings pitched (92.0), while finishing fifth in ERA (3.52) and fourth in opponent batting average (.225). Those numbers were even better in conference play leading the Valley in wins (8), innings (63.2), while finishing second in ERA (2.26) and fourth in opponent batting average (.210).
 
Fenlong made his 2023 debut on the mound with a 5.2-inning relief effort in the season-opening game against Iowa. From there, he took the Saturday starting role on the mound against Northeastern and Kentucky.
 
Fenlong started to hit his stride in mid-March as the right-hander nearly posted the first complete game of his collegiate career going 8.2 innings allowing seven hits and two runs while striking out eight in a win over Memphis. After a weekend start against Michigan State, Fenlong started conference play going at least 6.1 innings in eight consecutive starts.
 
He was key to ISU bouncing back from their three MVC losses by rebounding to win starts at UIC, Evansville, and Murray State in pacing the Sycamores to winning all nine conference weekend series in 2023.
 
The right-hander has been arguably one of the best pitchers in the NCAA Division I down the stretch posting three complete shutouts over a four-game span as the right-hander posted a one-hitter in a 10-0 win over Southern Illinois, six hits in a 2-0 win over Bradley, and two hits in a 5-0 win over Murray State. He finished the regular season going 22.0 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.
 

Magill became the third Sycamore to claim the conference's Defensive Player of the Year award joining Tyler Wampler (2014) and Jake Means (2019). The redshirt junior catcher single-handedly shut down the opponent running game in the 2023 season and coined the phrase "You do not run on Grant Magill" on the ISU social media platforms.
 
The term was uttered 17 times in the 2023 season as Magill tied for the Valley lead with 17 runners caught stealing, while adding four pickoffs on the year. MVC teams only attempted 11 stolen bases against the Sycamores in the 2023 campaign with Magill nabbing six of them. Overall, Magill allowed a Valley-low 18 stolen bases over 35 attempts on the year.
 
Out of conference, teams rarely ran on the Sycamores as ISU allowed just two stolen bases over the last 20 games of the regular season. Over the same stretch, Magill threw out four runners to keep teams moving from station to station on the base paths.
 
Magill threw out seven runners over an 11-game span from April 4 – 23 and posted a season-high two runners caught stealing at Memphis back on March 10.
 
He is a two-time All-Defensive selection at catcher and headlines an ISU defense that sits second in the NCAA in team fielding defense at 0.984 in the 2023 season.

Follow the Sycamores
For the latest information on the Sycamore Baseball team, make sure to check out GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  Fans can also receive updates on Sycamore Athletics by downloading the March On App from both the App Store and the Google Play Store.