(Story courtesy of Birmingham-Southern College)
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Junior catcher Bruce Maxwell has been named the 2012 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings National Player of the Year, the organization announced this week.
Maxwell was also recently named D3baseball.com National and South Region Player of the Year, as well as SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Year at the end of the regular season.
Maxwell, who has also earned D3baseball.com First-Team All-America and First-Team All-South honors, helped guide the Panthers to their first-ever SCAC baseball championship and a berth in the NCAA Division III Central Regional.
The junior from Toney, Ala., led the SCAC with a .471 batting average (7th-best in SCAC single-season) and also led the league in homeruns (15), doubles (25), runs scored (56), total bases (142), slugging percentage (.928), on-base percentage (.619) and walks (59 - new SCAC single-season record). He was fourth in runs batted in (48) and second in hits (72).
In addition to being named a national, regional, and conference player of the year, Maxwell was also named All-SCAC First Team as well as SCAC All-Tournament. He was also named the SCAC Hitter of the Week twice during the regular season and National Hitter of the Week once.
Maxwell becomes just the second Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) baseball student-athlete to earn national player of the year honors in the league's history, which dates back to 1962. He joins Southwestern University's Matt Gelotti, who earned ABCA Division III Player of the Year honors in 2000.