2 Vikings baseball players named All Americans

VANCOUVER — Two Big Bend Community College baseball players were named to All-American status by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings, with Austin Bunn and Brandham Ponce both earning All-American status in back-to-back years.

“Being named to an All-American team, that’s tough to do once,” Big Bend head coach Chase Tunstall said. “So when it happened again, that was just crazy. When you look at the (Northwest Athletic Conference), I mean some other schools have a couple guys and I think one other guy from the East (side of the state) was an All-American, but to have two of them — it's just something kind of astonishing to be honest.”

This is the second time that Bunn has made the ABCA/Rawlings All-American list, making the first team All-Pacific Association Division the previous two seasons. Ponce also made the all-PAD team last season on the second team. He was placed on the third team this season.

“We have three pillars here that we live by,” Tunstall said. “The first is to get your AA from BBCC in two years, the second one is to earn the respect of your teammates on and off the field and never let them down, and the third one is to leave a lasting legacy. For them to come in here in two years and live up to all three of those, especially that third one, it’s helped (our program).”

Bunn, who was named to the first team as an outfielder, led the Vikings in slugging percentage with a .594 batting average, was third in home runs (four) and RBIs (38), tied for the second-most hits (53) and had the second-most runs (39). Bunn was also named to the first team all-NWAC East Region as an outfielder.

Ponce was named to the third team All-American list as a utility player. He led Big Bend in home runs hit (6), hits (61) and RBI (42). He also had the fourth-highest on-base percentage of .425 and the third-highest slugging percentage of .483. Ponce was also named the NWAC East Region Most Valuable Player.

“They are the reason that it helps our program,” Tunstall said on the success of Ponce and Bunn reflecting on the school. “And they're probably going to be a reason why we get some pretty good players as well in the future because of what they did.”

The All-American duo helped lead the Vikings to a 26-20 overall record and a 19-9 record in NWAC play – the best conference record in program history. Big Bend was rewarded with a No. 2 seed in regional play and hosted its first regional tournament in two decades last month.

Back in March, the two All-Americans committed to play baseball at NCAA Division 1 schools. Ponce signed with Washington State and Bunn signed with the University of Northern Colorado.

“It kind of goes the same route of leaving a legacy,” Tunstall said. “It’s like, these guys aren’t just All-Americans, but they’re signed to Division 1 schools.”

Bunn will be playing summer ball with the Badlands Big Sticks in Dickinson, North Dakota. Ponce is also playing summer ball with the Wenatchee Applesox.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.