LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference placed three baseball student-athletes on the D3Baseball.com All-American teams, announced Thursday.
Centenary College's Chris Zapata earned first-team honors, while Michael Schimpf was named to second team. Trinity University's Scott Walters rounded out the SCAC players on the list, garnering honorable mention recognition.
Zapata became the first Gent to be named a First Team All-American by D3Baseball.com. The 2017 SCAC Player of the Year and two-time First Team All-Region catcher leads the nation with 71 RBI’s and sits second in RBI’s per game (1.58). He also led the conference and ranks third in the nation with 131 total bases. He easily led the conference in both home runs (12) and slugging percentage (.732), and finished second on the team and third in the conference with a .391 batting average. Zapata broke the single-season Centenary record for RBI’s while finishing fourth in slugging percentage and fifth in total bases in the season annals.
Schimpf finished the season with a .405 batting average in 2017 – becoming only the second player to lead the conference in batting average for a season twice in his career. He was the only player in the SCAC with an on-base percentage above .500, finishing sixth in the nation at .547. Schimpf finished second in the SCAC to other Gents in runs scored (54), RBI’s (47), and slugging percentage (.622).
Walters was an offensive threat throughout the season. Walters led the Tigers in a number of statistical categories, including batting average (.400), runs (45), doubles (16), and triples (six). He was fourth on the team with 30 RBI.
To view the full D3baseball.com release, click here.