Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
2018 D3baseball.com All-Central Region Teams
May 21, 2018 – The North Central College baseball team continues to make history, as a program record four players were named to the D3baseball.com All-Central Region teams, while
Michael Mateja becomes the first player in program history to earn back-to-back Central Region Player of the Year awards.
Mateja backed up his 2017 Central Region Player of the Year honor by adding a 2018 award to his trophy case, finishing the season batting an astounding .444, the eighth-highest average in a single-season in program history. Mateja's 72 hits this season rank tied for fifth in a single-season, while his 20 doubles rank third and his 54 runs scored and .534 on-base-percentage rank fifth.
Mike Wisz was also named to the first team, as his 73 runs batted in this season led all NCAA Division III players and fell just one shy of breaking the program's single-season record set by Ken Ritter '88 in 1986. Wisz hit 408 on the season while leading the team with 73 hits, good for third on the single-season list, while his 21 doubles rank second. Additionally, his seven sacrifice flies rank second, his 127 total bases rank third and his 179 at-bats rank seventh.
Freshman catcher
Rob Marinec was named Central Region Rookie of the Year, the first such honor in program history, while earning second team honors. Marinec hit .335 this season while ranking second on the team with 55 RBI and seven homeruns. Defensively, Marinec committed just one error behind the plate this season, finishing with a fielding percentage of .994.
Starting pitcher
Russell Hoh was named to the third team, the first career All-Region honor for the Cardinal senior. Hoh wrapped up his final season with a perfect 6-0 record over 11 starts with a 4.03 ERA with two complete-game shutouts, striking out 40 batters over 67 innings with just 17 walks. His three career shutouts rank tied for first all-time in program history, while also ranking sixth in wins (16), seventh in innings pitched (184.2) and ninth in games started (26).
The four All-Central Region selections are the most in a single-season as selected by D3baseball.com, as the 2010 and 2015 teams had four selections by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) which will release its teams later this week.
