MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Five baseball student-athletes from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) were named to the 2013 D3baseball.com All-West Region team. All five honorees came from SCAC champion Trinity University. Complete All-Region Teams
The Trinity quintette of Path Hirschberg, Ryan Luero, Kevin Francke, Christian Muscararello and Kevin Francke were each named to the All-West Region first-team after the group helped lead the Tigers to the NCAA Division III West Regional championship game for the second consecutive season.
Hirschberg, a junior oufielder, was named the 2013 SCAC Co-Player-of-the-Year after ranking in the top five in the league in nearly every offensive category during the regular season, including league-leading totals in batting average (.385), slugging percentage (.701), runs batted in (54), triples (7), home runs (9) and total bases (122). Hirschberg also earned a spot on the 2013 SCAC All-Tournament team where he hit .625 with six RBI and three runs scored.
He was also ranked in the top five in the SCAC in on-base percentage (.459 - 2nd), hits (67 - 2nd), walks (22 - 2nd), runs scored (43 - 4th), doubles (14 - tied 4th). Hirschberg was a three-time SCAC Offensive Player-of-the-Week (Weeks 4, 6 and 10) during the 2013 season and became Trinity's fifth SCAC Player-of-the-Year honoree and the first since Evan Jones won the honor in 2010.
Lucero, a senior left-hander, was named the 2013 SCAC Pitcher-of-the-Year after compiling a 10-1 record with a sparkling 1.98 ERA. He struck out no fewer than four in each of his 13 starts during the season and averaged 8.78 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
He led the SCAC in wins (10), strikeouts (80) and opponents' batting average (.209) while ranking in the top five in earned run average (1.98 – 2nd), innings pitched (82.0 – 3rd), and complete games (4 – 4th).
The 2012 D3Baseball.com All-American was a two-time SCAC Pitcher of the Week this season (Week 1, Week 5). Lucero's Pitcher-of-the-Year honor marks the third consecutive year a Trinity pitcher has been named the league's top hurler (Ben Klimesh won in 2011 and 2012) and the eighth time overall.
Speer, a sophomore right-hader, was a first-team All-SCAC selection after going 9-0 with a 1.51 ERA. He and Lucero combined for nearly half of Trinity's school record 40 wins this season. He was also named to the 2013 SCAC All-Tournament team after going 1-0 with a 1.12 ERA.
Speer led the SCAC in ERA (1.51) and earned runs allowed (12 ) and ranked among the league leaders in opponents' batting average (.215 - 2nd), innings pitched (71.1 - 5th), strikeouts (70 - 2nd) and wins (9 - 2nd). He threw a complete game in Trinity's 4-2 win over Texas-Tyler in last week's NCAA West Regional.
Francke, a senior third baseman, was a first-team All-SCAC honoree in 2013 after hitting .328 with four home runs and 33 RBI. He played in all but one of Trinity's 49 games this season while tallying 16 multi-hit games. Francke also earned a spot on the 2013 SCAC All-Tournament team after hitting .429 with one home run and 3 RBI.
He ranked in the top five in the SCAC in a number of categories including doubles (16 tied 1st), hits (62 - 3rd), homeruns (4 - 3rd) and total bases (92 - 2nd).
Muscarello, a junior shortstop, earned All-SCAC first-team laurels after hitting .374 with three home runs and 35 RBI. He played in all 49 games for the Tigers this season while totaling 21 multi-hit games during the season, including a remarkable 6 for 7 performance against Centenary on March 29.
He was also named to the 2013 SCAC All-Tournament team where he hit .467 with four doubles, three RBI and five runs scored. Muscarello ranked among the league leaders in batting average (.374 - 3rd), total bases (90 - 3rd), on-base percentage (.441 - 5th) and runs batted in (35 - 5th).
