IOWA FALLS, IOWA -- Eight Ellsworth CC baseball players, including 1st-team selection Tanner Short, were named to the All-Region XI teams announced by the conference office.  Short, a sophomore and Des Moines Roosevelt graduate, garnered a utility spot on the All-Region team to cap off a tremendous ECC career.  The Panthers had 2 players chosen to the 2nd team -- sophomore outfielder Dariel Colon from Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and sophomore infielder Luke Saxton from Papillion, Nebraska.  On the All-Region Honorable Mention list from Ellsworth are sophomores Jose Roche and Gabriel Monosmith and freshmen Brandon Weigel, Brock Adamson and Casey Clair. 

Short leaves Ellsworth with outstanding offensive numbers.  He batted .367 as a sophomore to lead the Panthers and also topped the team in slugging percentage (.627) and on-base percentage (.462).  He had 61 hits which included 18 doubles, 2 triples and 7 home runs.  Short scored 42 runs and drove in 29.  And he tied Colon for the lead in total bases with 104.  In 2 years and 97 games for the Panthers, Short hit .365 and slammed 30 doubles, 6 triples and 19 homers, 12 of them as a freshman.  He also provided 73 RBIs and 88 runs scored.  Short earned All-Region honors for the 2nd year in a row; he was on the 2nd team as a freshman.

Colon, likewise, had a strong 2 years as an ECC regular.  This season he batted .346 and owned team-leading numbers in at-bats (191), runs (50), hits (66), triples (6) and RBIs (41).  Colon also had 14 doubles and 4 home runs and slugged .545 while starting all 54 games for the Panthers.  His 2 years at ECC included a .348 batting average and 103 hits, 23 doubles, 6 triples, 77 runs and 56 runs-batted-in.

Saxton, the other 2nd-team pick, played in 23 games as a freshman and broke out in 2024, hitting .284 with a team-best 20 doubles to go along with 5 homers.  He had 48 hits, 25 runs and 28 RBIs and stole 11 bases.

Another 2-year player for the Panthers, Roche batted .286 as a soph with 6 doubles and a pair of HRs among his 34 hits.  He scored 21 runs and knocked in 17.  Roche produced a .300 average in 37 games in 2023 after coming to ECC from Arroyo, Puerto Rico.

Monosmith is an Ankeny Centennial product who sported a .314 batting average this year with 19 doubles and 5 homers and a .509 slugging percentage.  He had 55 hits, 35 runs and 35 RBIs.  He also paced the team by getting hit by a pitch 13 times.

While starting all 54 games in his freshman campaign, Weigel ended the year with a .299 average and team-leading totals of 50 runs, 38 walks and 14 steals in 16 tries.  The infielder's 53 hits included 14 doubles, 3 triples and 6 home runs.

The freshmen, Adamson and Clair, represent the Ellsworth pitching staff on the All-Region team.  Adamson, an Ankeny High graduate, started 12 games and completed 2.  He had a 2-5 record and 5.40 ERA.  Adamson struck out 52 batters in 50 innings pitched.  Clair, from Council Bluffs, Iowa, did good work out of the bullpen, saving 5 games and winning one in 16 appearances, all in relief.  He allowed only 12 hits and 6 earned runs in 18 2/3 innings with 19 strikeouts.  His ERA was 2.89.