SCAC Places Four on D3baseball.com All-Region Team

SCAC Places Four on D3baseball.com All-Region Team

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Four baseball student-athletes from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) were named to the 2014 D3baseball.com All-West Region team. Two honorees came from SCAC champion Trinity University while the other two came from the University of Dallas. Complete All-Region Teams

Trinity's Pat Hirschberg earned second team honors while fellow teammate Zack Speer was named to third team. Trevor Keele and Mark Carlson of Dallas each earned a spot on the third team.

Hirschberg, a senior outfielder, Hirschberg was elected a D3baseball.com Preseason All-American at the start of his 2014 campaign. In the 2013 postseason, Hirschberg was named to All-America Teams by the American Baseball Coaches Association and D3baseball.com. In addition, Hirschberg was voted the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Year. He finished in the top-five in nearly every offensive category in the conference.

Hirschberg hit .337 this season, with 42 runs, and leads the Tigers with seven home runs, 41 RBI and four triples. He earned All-SCAC honors both for the regular season as well as the tournament. He punched Trinity's ticket to the SCAC Baseball Championship Game with a walk off hit.

Speer, a junior right handed pitcher, was the SCAC Pitcher of the Year after leading the conference in strikeouts (52) and wins (8) this season. He picked up where he left off last season when he was named First Team All-SCAC, First Team D3baseball.com All-Region, Second Team ABCA All-Region and a D3baseball.com Honorable Mention All-American. He led the SCAC in wins (8) and strikeouts (52) and is second in ERA (1.99) and fifth in innings pitched (63.1) – one of just two players in the SCAC who ranks in the top five of all four categories. Speer earned wins against five of the league’s six other conference teams this year and his 17 wins the last two seasons are the most by any pitcher over that stretch.

Keele, a junior first baseman, was named the 2014 SCAC Offensive Player of the Year. Keele is Dallas' first-ever SCAC offensive or defensive player-of-the-year in any sport. The Edgewood, Texas native led the SCAC with a .400 batting average, 54 hits and 46 RBI. His other top-10 statistical rankings include a .456 on-base percentage (third), 70 total bases (fourth), three triples (fourth), a .519 slugging percentage (sixth) and seven doubles (ninth). 

Carlson, a senior second baseman, had nine triples in his final campaign which not only finished tied for the single-season school record, but led the SCAC and all of NCAA Division III. His other top-10 offensive statistical rankings include a .553 slugging percentage (third), 40 runs (third), a .452 on-base percentage (fourth), 78 total bases (fourth), 51 hits (fourth), a .362 batting average (fifth) and 15 stolen bases (sixth). Defensively, Carlson had 94 assists (eighth) as he was named to the All-SCAC team.