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

2021 All-CCIW Baseball Teams

May 19, 2021 – The North Central College baseball team landed seven on the All-College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) teams while nabbing Pitcher of the Year, Newcomer of the Year and Coach of the Year, released by the conference on Wednesday.

For the seventh time in his career, head coach Ed Mathey was named CCIW Coach of the Year after accomplishing something no other team has done in winning six-straight regular season conference titles.  Mathey has led the team to a 33-7 record so far this season, the third-most wins in a single season in program history, while tying Augie Schmidt IV for the most conference championships among active head coaches with nine (1994, 1996, 1998, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021).

For the third-straight season, a Cardinal has been named CCIW Pitcher of the Year as Luke Lamm earned the award this season after leading the conference with a record of 10-0.  The 10 wins broke North Central's single-season record and currently rank tied for first in all of NCAA Division III.  Lamm also leads the conference with 76 strikeouts, which currently ranks fourth on the program's single-season list.  Additionally, Lamm was named First Team All-CCIW, his first career all-conference award.

In his first season in a Cardinal uniform, Luke Lehnen earned CCIW Newcomer of the Year after ranking second in the conference in runs scored (48) and triples (seven), and fourth in hits (57).  Named to the second team outfield, Lehnen also leads the Cardinals with 85 total bases and 14 stolen bases in addition to his team-leading runs and hits.

In addition to Lamm, North Central landed four more on the First Team as Rob Marinec earned first team catcher honors for the third-consecutive season, leading the team with five homeruns, 10 doubles, 31 walks, 43 RBI, a .564 slugging percentage and .471 on-base percentage.  Marinec becomes just the third player in program history to earn First Team All-CCIW honors on three occasions, joining Ken Ritter (1986-88) and Joe Turek (2010-12) as the only Cardinals to accomplish the feat.

Shortstop Michael Stoltz earned his second All-CCIW nod, adding a first team award to his second team honor in 2019.  Stoltz is currently batting .303 this season and is tied for the team lead with 14 stolen bases, while leading the Cardinals defensively with 121 assists.

The current national leader in triples (10), Dom Listi earned his first career All-CCIW selection as one of four first-team outfielders, starting all 40 games this season and hitting .329.  Listi is tied with Marinec for the team lead with 19 extra-base hits, while ranking second on the team in RBI (36), walks (22), hit by pitch (17), slugging percentage (.546) and on-base percentage (.464).

The fifth and final First Team selection goes to pitcher Ryan Behling, as the junior right-hander led the conference with a miniscule 0.93 earned run average, while posting a 6-0 record with two complete games and one save.  Behling threw the first nine-inning no-hitter in program history on Mar. 14 in a 4-0 win over Spalding University, allowing just a pair of walks and hit by pitches while striking out six on the afternoon.  Behling has only allowed seven earned runs over 67 2/3 innings pitched with 57 punch outs to only 12 walks, while opposing batters are hitting just .146.

In addition to Lehnen's second team honor, Justin Rios was also named to the Second Team as a utility player.  Playing a few different positions this year, Rios played 18 games in the outfield, nine at designated hitter, five at first base while making seven pitching appearances.  Rios currently leads the team batting .352 over 31 games, and is also tied for the team lead with 10 doubles.

North Central has had 206 total All-CCIW selections since the conference first recognized the teams beginning in 1971.

North Central will co-host the 2021 CCIW Tournament with Wheaton College, as the top-seeded Cardinals are three-time defending tournament champions and will open play on Wednesday, May 19 against the eighth-seeded Thunder with first pitch at 11 a.m. at Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream, Illinois.  The link to the full tournament schedule is available HERE.