ABCA All-Midwest Region Teams
DULUTH, Minn. – St. Scholastica's #Sean Claugherty# (
Sr.-Oakdale, Minn./Tartan), #Steve Gerten# (
Sr.-West St. Paul, Minn./Henry Sibley), #Paul Kolodge# (
Sr.-Cloquet, Minn.), and #Matt Lewis#
(Jr.-Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) all received American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) NCAA Division III All-Midwest Region honors; it was announced late last week.
Claugherty and Gerten received second team accolades, while Kolodge and Lewis were named to the third team.
Claugherty is named to the second team after being a first team all-region selection the previous two seasons. He led the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) with 36 RBIs in conference games and his 58 RBIs overall is ranked 38th in all of Division III. He tied for a league-high with four home runs and his 33 walks are the 33rd most in the nation. He also led the conference with 145 putouts. At one point this season, he reached base by way of a hit in 27 straight games, which is the second-longest streak in program history.
Gerten is also named to the second team as both a third baseman and a pitcher. On the mound, Gerten finished with a 9-0 record with the nine victories being 16th best in the country. In conference play, he allowed just four runs in 21 innings. At the plate, Gerten was second in the conference with a .475 batting average in league games. He led the UMAC with a .800 slugging percentage and a .596 on-base percentage. His 16 doubles led the conference.
Kolodge receives third team all-region honors. Kolodge was third in the UMAC with a .763 slugging percentage in league games and was fourth with a .447 batting average. Kolodge helped guide an inexperienced pitching staff from behind the plate to the fourth-best team earned run average in Division III at 3.44. He threw out nine of 24 potential base stealers overall.
Lewis also earns third team accolades. Lewis went 8-3 this season, including 4-0 in conference games. He had a team-high 56 strikeouts, which was also third-most in the conference. Lewis combined with three other pitchers to throw a no-hitter against Crown on May 6th.
Riley Tincher of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was named the region's Pitcher of the Year, while Kyle Standridge of Rockford College was named the region's Position Player of the Year.
