As the Wayne State College baseball team prepares for day one of the NSIC Baseball Tournament, an all-around player was listed among the best in the league.
According to a release from Wayne State Athletics, junior Braden Cannon was named to the 2025 Northern Sun Conference All-Conference Baseball Team released Tuesday afternoon by the league office in Burnsville, Minnesota.
The junior from Millard South High School earned First Team honors as a relief pitcher after being named All-NSIC Second Team one year ago.
This season, Cannon matched his single season school record of 10 saves appearing in just 16 games recording a 1-1 record and a 3.00 ERA. He pitched 18 innings and allowed just 16 hits and six earned runs with 15 strikeouts and seven walks.
After allowing three runs in his first outing of the season January 31 against CSU Pueblo, Cannon gave up just three more earned runs the rest of the season. He picked up the win with 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief in a 6-3 win at Northern State April 26th. Six of his 10 saves came in one-run wins for Wayne State this season.
Cannon had a streak of four straight saves in late March and early April – two games at UMary, Minnesota Duluth and Concordia-St. Paul with three of the saves coming in one run wins. He also had three consecutive saves in late April at St. Cloud State along with two saves in a doubleheader vs. Sioux Falls.
In just his junior season, Cannon has notched 27 career saves in a Wildcat uniform and has the single season saves record at WSC with 10 saves this season and in 2023 as a freshman.
The Wayne State College baseball team is 29-20 on the season and finished third place in the NSIC with a 25-15 league mark. The 'Cats are the #3 seed for the NSIC Baseball Tournament and will face #6 seed Minnesota Duluth at 6 p.m. on May 7 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Other first round games will be played at the Birdcage with finals set for May 10.
