The 2017 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. II All-America teams have been released by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings Sporting Goods. Three Northwood Timberwolves in David Vinsky, Connor Foley and Tyler Jandron along with Ohio Dominican's Justin Childers earned All-American recognition from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC).
Vinsky earned a first team selection, Jandron and Childers were selected to the second team, and Foley received third team honors.
Vinsky became one of the top offensive performers in the country in his first season at Northwood. He finished the regular season with a .444 batting average to go along with a .654 slugging percentage. Vinsky has set single season records for Northwood in hits, extra base hits, doubles, total bases, and runs batted in to go along with being named the GLIAC Freshman of the Year. The freshman for Northwood finished the incredible season batting .449 with 109 total hits and was named a finalist for the Tino Martinez DII Player of the Year award.
Jandron compiled a year for the record books as the ace of the Timberwolves pitching staff in 2017. A year that includes being named the GLIAC Pitcher of the Year and the Midwest Pitcher of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). He finished the regular season earning the GLIAC pitching "triple crown," leading the conference in wins (10), ERA (2.61) and strikeouts (80) in the regular season. Including the post-season, Jandron finished the season with a 12-1 record, a 2.37 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 91 innings pitched and was named a finalist for the Brett Tomko DII Pitcher of the Year Award.
Foley completed a remarkable career for Northwood with a stellar senior campaign in which he produced a .401 batting average in the regular season. Foley concluded the regular season second in the GLIAC in runs scored with 60, third in batting average at .401, third in the league in on base percentage at .494 and tied for the second most hits in the GLIAC with 79. Foley continued the impressive play in the post season and set a school record in runs scored with 74. Foley's 93 hits broke the school record previously held by Kevon Ventimiglia (71) from the 1998 season and ranks second all-time in hits in a season to teammate David Vinsky.
Jandron, Foley, and Vinsky were key contributors to the most successful season in Northwood baseball history that included the school's first ever GLIAC regular season championship, GLIAC tournament title, a school record for wins, a top ten national ranking, and a #1 seed in the Midwest Region.
The GLIAC Player of the Year and a two-time GLIAC Player of the Week, Childers batted .451 with 14 homers, 17 doubles, five triples, 60 RBIs, 62 runs scored and 18 stolen bases in 48 games. Through games played as of May 14, Childers ranks second nationally in slugging percentage (.846) and third in batting average while his .526 on-base percentage is ninth.
Childers closed the season with a 14 game hitting streak and had two or more hits in 12 of those games, hitting .609 with six homers, 25 RBIs and 14 walks in that stretch. On the season, he had 28 multi-hit games and 19 multi-RBI games.
ABCA/Rawlings All-Region first-team selections, which were announced last Wednesday, were nominated for All-America honors. In all divisions, the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Teams will be announced on Wednesday, June 21, and the ABCA Players of the Year will be announced Wednesday, June 28.
The ABCA All-America team was first recognized in 1949 and now includes nine divisions: NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA Divisions I, II and III, Pacific Association Division, and high school. ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove teams were first recognized in 2007.
The ABCA, founded in 1945, is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its over 8,000 members represent all 50 states and 25 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association membership has broadened to include eight divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, High School and Youth. The 74th annual ABCA Convention will be held Jan. 4-7, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
About Rawlings
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