ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The Great Lakes Valley Conference announced on Tuesday (Feb. 5) that former Lewis baseball standout Ernie Young has been inducted into the GLVC Hall of Fame.

Young is one of four inductees who will be honored, including Indianapolis' Ken Partridge (men's golf coach) and Justin Hueber (men's golf) and Northern Kentucky's John Basalyga (men's soccer coach).

The GLVC Hall of Fame Class of 2019 will be honored at the Enterprise/GLVC Spring Awards Banquet at the Drury Plaza Hotel in St. Louis on Tuesday, May 21st.

In Young's three years at Lewis he compiled, a .347 batting average with 36 home runs (t-8th) and 63 stolen bases (sixth), which are both top-10 marks all-time in the Lewis annals. In hits (30), doubles (30), triples (six) and runs batted in (120), he ranks among the top 25 Flyers.

In 1990, Young led Division II in runs with 81 and was second in home runs (25). He tied a Lewis single-game record, hitting three homers against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He was a two-time All-GLVC selection and a two-time American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-American, earning Second Team honors in 1989 and First Team recognition in 1990.

Young helped lead the Flyers to three consecutive NCAA World Series appearances in 1988, 1989 and 1990. The combined baseball record for those three years was 137-56, as Lewis finished third in the nation in both 1988 and 1990 while finishing fifth in 1989. In GLVC play, The Flyers were first in 1990 with a 15-3 record and second in both 1988 (14-4) and 1989 (12-8).

His third and final year in Romeoville, Young hit .365 with 25 home runs, 11 doubles, two triples, 72 RBI and 38 stolen bases. The prior year, he hit .353 and tallied nine dingers, 19 doubles, four triples and 39 RBI with 17 steals. During his freshman slate, Young hit .234 with two home runs and added nine RBI and eight stolen bases.

Young played eight seasons in Major League Baseball with the Oakland A's, Kansas City Royals, Arizona Diamondbacks, Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians. With the A's in 1996 he appeared in 141 games hitting a career-high 19 home runs, 19 doubles, 64 runs batted in and stole seven bases.

Young helped Team USA defeat two-time defending champion Cuba to win the 2000 Olympic gold medal in Australia. For the Olympic tournament, he led Team USA in on-base percentage (.568), tied for the team lead in with eight RBI and posted a .385 batting average (10-for-26).

This is the fourth time in the last five years that a former Lewis student-athlete has been named to the GLVC Hall of Fame as Kasia Arient (women's cross country and track field) was selected in 2017, Robin (Martz) Hammer (softball) was selected in 2016 and former pole vaulter Duane Chappell (men's track and field) earned that distinction in 2015.