Latest news with #Westenburg
American Press
18-07-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Westenburg signs with Padres
Conner Westenburg has signed a free-agent contract with San Diego. (Kirk Meche/Special to the American Press) All Conner Westenburg ever wanted was a chance. The former McNeese State outfielder will get just that and more. After a solid career with the Cowboys, Westenburg signed a free-agent deal with the San Diego Padres on Thursday as his dream continues. 'I'm super excited to continue my career,' said Westenburg. 'I had a couple of offers during the draft, but my advisor suggested that we pass. I'm going in with the mindset of competing and playing as hard as I can and to just have fun playing the game I love.' Westenburg is coming off a very good senior season in the spring, slashing .328/.429/.561 with seven home runs, 33 RBIs, nine doubles, and led the Southland Conference with nine triples and 27 stolen bases. The four-year McNeese letterwinner and two-year starter holds the school record for most leadoff home runs. He will report to the Padres' training complex in Peoria, Arizona Sunday. Westenburg was named just the second McNeese State player to earn a spot on the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings Gold Glove team. He joined Carson Maxwell, who was named to the 2019 team as a third baseman. 'I would go look at his glove and say to myself, I wanted one of those all the time,' said Westenburg. 'I feel very honored to have been named to the team. It is a great honor and was a goal of mine.' While Westenburg had a good offensive season and was selected to the Southland Conference's first team, it was his defense that became his calling card. Westenburg joined Vanderbilt's RJ Austin and UConn's Caleb Shpur in the outfield. He is just the fifth Gold Glove winner in Southland Conference history. He was also picked to the SLC all-defensive team. 'Conner is one of the best centerfielders I've ever seen, and I have had the pleasure to see it every day,' said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. 'He is so deserving of this, and I'm so happy for him to be recognized as the best in the country.' Westenburg knows his defense is the key to his future. 'I have always been a good defender, but I have always worked really hard at it,' said Westenburg. 'I take a lot of pride in playing defense. 'Even if you are having a bad day at the plate, you can still help your team win with big defensive plays and saving runs.' With 134 chances on the year, Westenburg recorded 123 put-outs with only two errors as he compiled a .985 fielding percentage. He also ran down balls in both gaps. 'If it was hit near me, I wanted to do everything I could to make the catch,' said Westenburg. 'Defense is all about work and effort. You can't control hitting all the time, but you can control defense.' Westenburg becomes the seventh former McNeese player currently playing professionally.
American Press
18-06-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Westenburg earns Gold Glove
Conner Westenburg became the second player in McNeese history to earn a Gold Glove. (Kirk Meche/Special to the American Press) Before the season, Conner Westenburg picked out a brand new glove for his final year. Surprisingly, to all, he picked the color pink. 'I got a little heat for it,' said Westenburg. 'My dad asked if it was for a gender reveal.' The senior centerfielder had a simple response to those who joked about it: 'I told them I planned on getting a different color at the end of the year.' True to his word, Westenburg got his prize color on Wednesday when Rawlings handed out their postseason college honors. Westenburg was named just the second McNeese State player to earn a spot on the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings Gold Glove team. He joins Carson Maxwell, who was named to the 2019 team as a third baseman. 'I would go look at his glove and say to myself, I wanted one of those all the time,' said Westenburg. 'I feel very honored to have been named to the team. It is a great honor and was a goal of mine.' Westenburg joins Vanderbilt's RJ Austin and UConn's Caleb Shpur in the outfield. He is just the fifth Gold Glove winner in Southland Conference history. 'Conner is one of the best centerfielders I've ever seen, and I have had the pleasure to see it every day,' said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. 'He is so deserving of this, and I'm so happy for him to be recognized as the best in the country.' The news on Wednesday came as a surprise to Westenburg, who still works out in hopes of playing professionally down the road. 'I didn't expect to get it,' Westenburg said. 'There are so many good players out there, you just never know. Then, when I saw I was a finalist, I started to think maybe.' Westenburg had a good year offensively, but was huge for the Cowboys as a defender. He was named to the All-SLC first team and the All-Defensive squad in May. However, to be named one of the best defenders in the country puts the perfect finishing touch to his Cowboy career. 'I have always been a good defender, but I have always worked really hard at it,' said Westenburg. 'I take a lot of pride in playing defense. 'Even if you are having a bad day at the plate, you can still help your team win with big defensive plays and saving runs.' With 134 chances on the year, Westenburg recorded 123 put-outs with only two errors as he compiled a .985 fielding percentage. He also ran down balls in both gaps. 'If it was hit near me, I wanted to do everything I could to make the catch,' said Westenburg. 'Defense is really all about work and effort. You can't control hitting all the time, but you can control defense.' As a hitter, he hit .332 on the season with seven home runs and 33 RBIs. Of those seven homers, three came leading off games, setting another school record. He hit nine triples to rank second in the NCAA, nine doubles, and led the Southland Conference with 27 stolen bases. 'One of my goals at the beginning of the year was to win a Gold Glove,' Westenburg said. 'I didn't see a lot of action my first two years here, but when I got the opportunity, I got out and made the best of it.' And he can now retire that pink glove and replace it with the golden one.
American Press
13-05-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Worth the wait
Conner Westenburg waited two years to become McNeese's big weapon. (McNeese Athletics) F or two seasons, Conner Westenburg waited and wondered if he would ever get his big chance. He had played in just 29 games, serving mainly as a pinch runner or defensive replacement. Westenburg had just one start and one hit, though he did score 13 runs and drove in a couple. 'I got a couple of chances, but I didn't do much with them,' said Westenburg. 'I didn't really earn more time. I was hoping to get my shot. 'That was tough. Everybody wants to play. Waiting and not playing is hard, but I'm glad I did it.' And he never considered going elsewhere to get it. 'Loyalty is a big deal to me and my family,' said Westenburg. 'From the moment I came to McNeese, I was all about the blue and gold. This is where I wanted to be and wanted to play. Never a doubt.' Westenburg, an outfielder from Porter, Texas, earned his spot in the lineup during fall workouts before the 2024 campaign. 'I just kept working and making things happen when he was out there,' said McNeese head coach Justin Hill. 'It is a tribute to his work ethic and willingness to continue to work and make himself better, and always thinking of the team first.' Hill also understands Westenburg could have left at any time in the world of the transfer portal. 'He is kind of the ultimate kid in that he stayed and benefited,' said Hill. 'I can't say enough good things about Conner Westenburg. He kept working and he turned himself into an all-conference player.' Westenburg started all 59 games a year ago, hitting .296 with 17 doubles, three triples and six home runs. He scored 46 runs and drove in 41 while stealing 20 bases in 23 attempts. This year, the centerfielder has been even better. He is tied for the league lead in triples with nine and was a legitimate Southland Conference Player of the Year candidate late into the season. Westenburg leads the Cowboys with 64 hits, one more than Easton Dowell, as McNeese gets set to open postseason play in Hammond Thursday against Northwestern State. He is second in the league in runs scored at 60. Westenburg leads the conference in stolen bases with 25 in 30 attempts and has a .330 average, up 34 points from last season. He has also hit seven home runs and plays the type of center field that earned him defensive league honors last year. According to one set of metrics, Westenburg leads the nation in runs saved at 18.61, ahead of UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky's second-best 16.44. His nine outfield assists are believed to be a McNeese record. 'Conner is an electric player,' said Hill. 'He gets us going and keeps our energy up, especially how he plays the outfield. He gets to everything out there.' However, Westenburg isn't just a baseball player. With a 3.87 individual grade point average, he won the Rowdy Award for the highest individual grade point average among athletes. Westenburg graduated Monday, earning his degree in general studies. When asked which he was more proud of, the batting average or his GPA, Westenburg wasn't sure if he wanted to be honest. 'I guess the batting average because it leads to wins,' he said. 'But I think they both show how hard I worked, and I'm proud of that. 'I always knew what I was capable of doing; I just had to wait and make the most of my chances when I got them. I think I have done that.' Both on the field and in the classroom, Westenburg has done just that.
American Press
30-04-2025
- Sport
- American Press
Cowboy rally falls short
McNeese pitcher Diego Corrales, a Barbe High product, works Tuesday against Houston. (Kirk Meche/Special to the American Press) You can't say they didn't make it interesting. Playing their last midweek home game, the Cowboys fell to Houston Tuesday night at Joe Miller Ballpark, but not without a fight. McNeese State rallied to score two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and put the winning runs on base, but Conner Westernburg's hard-hit fly was caught to end the rally. That gave the Cougars a 4-3 victory. Marcus Heusohn led off the ninth with a double, which was followed by a Larry Edwards triple. Edwards scored on Mack Brousseau's sacrifice fly to right. A two-out walk to Simon Larranaga was followed by Grant Mangrum getting hit by a pitch. Pinch-runners replaced both to set up Westenburg, whose ball was tracked down in left-center by Tre Broussard to end the game. This is a big week for McNeese, as they host their final Southland Conference series starting Friday night and must also contend with their final exams. 'We got a lot of things going on,' head coach Justin Hill said. The Cowboys, just a game out of first and in the thick of the league race, host Stephen F. Austin this weekend. There are six teams within three games of first place with two weeks left to play. 'It's going to come down to the last weekend,' Hill said Monday. 'We just have to keep battling.' The Cougars (24-20) scored a pair of runs in the third and sixth innings to split the season series against McNeese (30-11). The Cowboys won the first game a couple of weeks back in Houston, 4-3 in 10 innings. A two-run homer by Aaron Lugo, his fourth of the season, gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead. His shot came off freshman Diego Corrales, who took the loss to fall to 0-2. McNeese cut the lead in half thanks to Westenburg. After being hit by a pitch, he raced to third on an attempted pickoff by Houston catcher Riley Jackson. Westenburg then got Cougar starter Diego Luzardo to balk him home by faking stealing in the fourth. Houston scored twice in the sixth on Xavier Perez's run-scoring double and a squeeze bunt by Anthony Avalos. Luzardo, who entered the game with an earned run average of 9.75, improved to 2-1, allowing just one hit in five innings. With the loss, the Cowboys suffered their first three-game losing streak of the season and, after winning 12 straight, have dropped six of their last nine heading into the final set of home games.
