Three former Lasers lead Georgetown College to fine season

Three former Lasers lead Georgetown College to fine season

Three former Irvine Valley baseball players helped Georgetown College to another fine season this spring.

Senior infielder Tyler Wagner, junior first baseman Ryan Gaynor and junior outfielder Zack Stack helped Georgetown end the year with a record of 45-15 overall and make the finals of the 2019 NAIA National Tournament Opening Round.

The team finished with 42 wins in the regular season, which was the most regular season victories in program history.

Gaynor was picked as an all-MSC second team player this past year.

Gaynor paced Georgetown with a .360 batting average on the season.

He played in 46 games and started 44 of them.

Gaynor ended with 37 runs, 50 hits, nine doubles, one triple, two home runs and 33 RBI.

He also had a .503 on base percentage, which was tops on the team and a .482 slugging percentage, which ranked second on the squad.

Wagner, an infielder, batted .273.

He played in 47 games and started 36. Wagner had eight doubles, one home run and 21 RBI.

Stack, who played in the outfield, batted .238 on the year. He also played in 46 games and started 27.

Stack finished with one home run and 14 RBI and had nine stolen bases.

Stack also ended the season with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage with 27 putouts and one assist in his 28 chances.

Wagner, Gaynor and Stack all played on Irvine Valley's 2017 team that reached the Southern California Regional Playoffs and won a postseason contest in 2017.

Wagner played in 41 of Irvine Valley's 43 games and batted .277 with eight doubles, three home runs, 21 RBI and five stolen bases that season.

Wagner also ranked third in slugging percentage (.429) and fourth in on base percentage (.390).

He had six multi-hit games this season, including three in Irvine Valley's final five contests of the season.

He went 3 for 4 at the plate in the Lasers' key 5-3 win over No. 2 Orange Coast on Apr. 28. The win helped Irvine Valley make the postseason.

Gaynor was the starting catcher as a freshman in 2017. He batted .259 with seven doubles, 19 runs, 23 RBI and seven stolen bases in 42 games.

He also had a .990 fielding percentage and caught 11 runners stealing.

Gaynor started behind the plate to begin the 2018 year for the Lasers, but was set back by an injury midway through the season.

He ended up playing 27 games, many at designated hitter for IVC at the end of the season.

Gaynor batted .198 with two home runs and 16 RBI. His highlight of the season came with a walk-off, game-winning solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift Irvine Valley to a 7-6 win over Santa Ana at home on Apr. 24. Gaynor went 2 for 2 with that home run and three RBI in the contest.

Stack was a two-year starter for the Lasers and was one of the best hitters on the team in both of his seasons at IVC.

Stack batted .315 in 39 games in 2018, which was second on the IVC squad. He finished with 45 hits, 20 runs, three doubles, two home runs and 31 RBI.

The left-handed hitting Stack ranked second on the team in hits, fourth in runs, second in home runs and second in RBI.

His .409 on base percentage was third best on the team and he ranked fourth in slugging percentage at .378.

Stack also struck out just 14 times in 143 at bats with 16 walks. He hit an impressive .369 (24 of 65) at home during 2018.

He had 12 multi-hit games on the season and three games where he finished with three hits, including a 3 for 3 performance at Allan Hancock on Feb. 16 where he hit two home runs, scored two runs and racked up an incredible seven RBI.

In his freshman year in 2017, Stack hit .283 with 30 hits, 18 runs, four doubles and five RBI in 38 games. He had an on base percentage of .411.