Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

2017 D3baseball.com All-America Teams

May 25, 2017 – For the first time in program history, two North Central College baseball players were awarded First Team All-America honors in the same season, as Nick Sotiros and Michael Mateja each received recognition from D3baseball.com on Thursday.
 
North Central has been represented on the All-America teams in each of the last three seasons after a stretch of 12 straight years without an All-American was snapped in 2015, now giving the program 15 in total.
 
For the second straight season, Sotiros has been named to the All-America team by D3baseball.com, adding to his Honorable Mention honors in 2016.  Sotiros is only the second player in program history to be named an All-American in consecutive seasons, joining North Central Hall of Fame member Ken Ritter (1986, 1987, 1988).
 
Sotiros was recently named Most Valuable Player of the 2017 NCAA Division III Central Region Championship, batting at a .347 clip so far this season while his 60 runs batted in currently rank second nationally while his 18 doubles rank 23^rd.  Sotiros also leads the team with seven homeruns, including two over the Central Regional last week.
 
Mateja was recently named Central Region Player of the Year by both D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings, as his.414 batting average through regional play leads the team.  Mateja also ranks in the top-10 nationally in multiple categories, as his 59 runs scored and eight triples rank fifth, 77 hits rank sixth and his 118 total bases rank ninth.  Mateja has started all 45 games at third base this season, slugging .634 while reaching base at a .489 clip, including a stretch of 40-straight games dating back to Mar. 20.

Mateja now holds two single-season program records, as his 77 hits broke Nick Robinson's record of 76 set in 2010 and his eight triples broke Kory Witmer's previous single-season high of seven set in 1994. Additionally, his 59 runs scored rank second, 21 steals rank fifth, 118 total bases rank sixth and 11 hit by pitches rank eighth.
 
Sotiros also sits in the program's single-season top-10 in multiple categories, holding two of the top three spots on the single-season doubles list as his 22 last season rank atop the list and his 18 from this season currently rank third.  His 68 hits from 2016 rank fourth, while his 65 this season rank ninth, along with ranking sixth with 60 RBI this season, eighth with 11 hit by pitches and 10^th with 113 total bases.
 
North Central clinched a spot in the NCAA Division III College World Series for just the second time in school history, taking on 19^th-ranked University of Massachusetts-Boston in the opening round on Friday, May 26 at 4:30 p.m.  The link to the tournament website is available HERE.