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

2018 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division III All-Region Teams

May 22, 2018 – Continuing to pile on postseason awards, the North Central College baseball team was honored with three selections to the All-Central Region First Team, released by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings on Tuesday.

Michael Mateja earns his second-straight ABCA First Team All-Central Region selection, adding to his 2016 Central Region Player of the Year honors, while also being named Central Region Player of the Year by D3baseball.com in each of the last two seasons.  Mateja finished 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 adds the award to his first team All-Central Region selection by D3baseball.com, hitting .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 also named to the first team, one of just two freshman on the first team and four total over the three all-region teams. Marinec hit .335 this season while ranking second on the team with 55 RBI and seven homeruns, adding to his second team honor from D3baseball.com while also earning Central Region Rookie of the Year by the organization.  Defensively, Marinec committed just one error on the season, finishing with a fielding percentage of .994.

This marks the sixth-consecutive season that North Central has been represented on the ABCA All-Central Region teams, with 16 total selections over the last six seasons.

ABCA/Rawlings All-Region first-team selections are nominated for ABCA/Rawlings All-America honors. ABCA/Rawlings All-Americans will be announced on the evening of Thursday, May 24.