Fresno Pacific first baseman Nick Pate earns NCAA D-II Gold Glove

Fresno Pacific baseball player Nick Pate was named the NCAA Division II Gold Glove award winner for first base.

Pate, a junior, joins former major league pitcher Chris Schwinden (2008) as the only other Sunbird to win the prestigious national award.

Pate finished the season with a perfect fielding percentage, going the entire season without committing an error for the NCCAA World Series champion Sunbirds. He recorded 511 putouts and 41 assists on the year.

Pate was the lone representative from the West Region on the Gold Glove team. The NCAA defensive player of the year award went to outfielder Casey Scoggins of the University of Tampa.

Sunbirds junior center fielder Baron Bower and sophomore second baseman McKay France also were finalists for the award.

The Sunbirds’ defense played a big part of the team’s second straight NCCAA World Series title, which Fresno Pacific captured after a 6-2 victory over Lee (Tenn.) on Saturday.

Fresno Pacific was not eligible for the NCAA Division II national tournament this season because of a postseason ban stemming from violations by the university’s tennis programs. But the Sunbirds expect to be fully postseason eligible in the NCAA next season.

This story was originally published May 26, 2015 at 6:11 PM with the headline "Fresno Pacific first baseman Nick Pate earns NCAA D-II Gold Glove."