Omaha, Neb. - Former San Jose State University baseball player Kyle Bellows was recently selected to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings Sporting Goods 2009 West All-Region Second Team.

The ABCA’s post-season honorees are initially compiled by all NCAA Division I coaches into eight all-region teams. Nominated and selected by the 34 coaches in the West region, the West first team consists of 13 standouts, while the second team is made up of 17 players. First-team picks then are eligible for ABCA All-America honors, with 63 gaining that distinction for 2009.

The ABCA West All-Region second-team honor is likely to be the final one of numerous accolades for Bellows both for the 2009 season, and his college days. He hit a career-high .389 and led the Western Athletic Conference with 93 hits during his junior campaign, completing the season as the Spartans’ all-time leader in runs (154) and RBI (146). Bellows launched a team-best 10 home runs, the most by a Spartan since 2002, giving him 20 long balls in three years. He went 93-for-239 with 62 runs, 16 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs, 57 RBI, 147 total bases, a .615 slugging percentage, eight sacrifice flies and 10 stolen bases. All were career bests except for the doubles. The shortstop committed just seven errors in 272 chances defensively, for a fielding percentage of .974 at the most demanding position on the diamond.

Belllows was named to the All Ping!Baseball Third Team, an Academic All-WAC honoree, WAC All-Tournament Team selection and first-team All-WAC pick. At the annual end-of-the-year banquet for Spartan Baseball, he was chosen the team’s Most Valuable Player.

Bellows was one of 38 players named to the watch list for the Brooks Wallace Award, given for the first time in 2009 to the nation’s top shortstop. The San Jose native out of Santa Teresa High School made the semifinal cut down to 15, before bowing out of the running at the five-person finals stage. The award ultimately went to UC Irvine senior Ben Orloff, a second-team ABCA All-American who took the first-team shortstop spot on the West squad.

A two-time College Baseball Foundation National All-Star Lineup selection (three for career), two-time WAC Hitter of the Week (three for career) and three-time Spartan Foundation Student-Athlete of the Week in 2009, Bellows was also chosen as one of four Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week and as the CollegeBaseballInsider.com West Region Player of the Week for the week of May 4-10. That week, he batted .583 (14-for-24) during five starts with 12 runs, two doubles, four home runs, two walks and 17 RBI, slugging 1.167 as the Spartans went 3-2 over five road contests.

Bellows opted to forgo his senior season of college eligibility, and is currently in the Cleveland Indians organization, playing for the Class A Short Season Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the New York-Penn League in Niles, Ohio. He was the fourth-round draft selection of the Indians, No. 125 overall. Bellows is batting .273 over his first nine games, all starts, in helping Mahoning Valley to a 7-3 record out of the gate. His first professional home run came on Friday night, June 26, a three-run, game-tying shot to left field with one out during the sixth inning of an 8-3 loss at Williamsport. Bellows has four runs, a double, five RBI, five walks and one steal.

Other 2009 West All-Region honorees from the WAC included first-teamers Tom Mendonca (3B) of Fresno State and Tim Wheeler (OF) of Sacramento State, both juniors like Bellows, and second-team outfielder Kolten Wong of Hawai’i. Bellows was joined as shortstops on the second team by USC’s Grant Green, the 13th pick of the first round of the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, and Cal State Fullerton sophomore Christian Colon.

Bellows is believed to be the Spartans’ first All-Region selection since Matt Durkin. For his career, he started 174 of 175 games played, missing just two contests, early in 2009 due to a bout with pneumonia. A .338 hitter for his college career, he produced 233 hits in 689 at-bats, with 154 runs, 47 doubles, seven triples, 20 home runs, 146 RBI, 73 walks, 23 hit-by-pitches, 91 strikeouts, nine sacrifice hits, 14 sacrifice flies and 17 stolen bases in 30 attempts, playing shortstop, first base and third base. Bellows also made one mound appearance as a junior, getting pinned with an unfortunate losing decision in an extra-inning home defeat to Stanford on Tuesday night, May 12. He allowed one earned run on four hits and three walks over 3.0 innings, with a pair of strikeouts.

Bellows ended his San Jose State career in the top five in the school record book in six categories in all. In addition to now holding the marks in runs and RBI, he is fourth in hits, doubles and home runs, and fifth in at-bats.

Defensively, Bellows posted a career fielding percentage of .964 (390-439-31), with just 10 errors in 388 chances for a .974 mark over his last 86 games dating back to his return to the shortstop position on April 11, 2008, at Sacramento State. He was named a Freshman All-American by two separate publications in 2007.