LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) baseball programs were well represented when D3baseball.com announced its All-Region teams on Tuesday, taking three of the four major Region 10 awards and placing 10 total players on the three teams.
Centenary College first-year Tyler Herrera was named Region 10 Rookie and Pitcher-of-the-Year and Trintiy University head coach Tim Scannell earned Region 10 Coach-of-the-Year honors.
The 10 total SCAC players earning D3baseball.com All-Region honors is the most since 10 were recognized during the 2017 season.
Herrera, the league’s Freshman and Pitcher-of-the-Year was sensational this past season in helping Centenary capture the SCAC Tournament Title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament last month. He finished in the top 10 in the country in ERA (1.59) and went 7-1 with two complete games. Herrera, whose ERA was under 1.00 for most of the season, made 16 appearances and nine starts and in 73.2 innings pitched allowed just 13 earned runs and 61 hits with 25 walks and 59 strikeouts. Herrera is the first SCAC student-athlete to earn either Region 10 honor since TLU’s Nathan Malinovsky won both in sperate seasons, first Rookie-of-the-Year in 2016 and then Pitcher-of-the-Year in 2018.
Scannell earned SCAC Coach-of-the-Year honors for a record 11th time last month and was named Region 10 Coach-of-the-Year for the first time since 2016 as he returned the Trinity program to its third NCAA III World Series this season after back-to-back appearances in 2015 and 2016, the latter of which collected the most-recent national title across the Tiger Athletics Department.
Joining Herrera on the Region 10 First Team was Texas Lutheran’s Joe Jimenez and Trinity teammates, Tyler Pettit and Ezra Gore.
Jimenez, a junior shortstop from San Antonio, Texas, was named SCAC Player-of-the-Year and was a First Team All-SCAC selection this season. He batted .374 with 67 RBI, 49 run scored, 15 home runs, 10 doubles, 115 total bases, 21 walks, and 14 stolen bases. He ranks amongst the top 60 nationally in RBI (seventh) home runs (14th), runs batted in per game (1.63; 5th), home runs per game (0.37; 15th), and slugging percentage (.742; 39th). Jimenez started 41 of TLU's 42 games this season and registered multiple hits in 16 contests and multiple RBI 16 times.
Pettit, a senior catcher, and Gore, a junior outfielder, have been key contributors in helping guide the Tigers to their third College World Series in program history. Heading into this weekend’s CWS, the duo has combined for 118 hits, 98 runs scored, 75 RBI, 15 home runs and 41 extra base hits. Both Pettit and Gore are hitting over .360 on the season and were named First Team All-SCAC.
Centenary senior second baseman Tyler Erickson, along with Trinity sophomore pitcher Joseph Chavana were named Second Team All-Region 10.
Erikson, a First Team All-SCAC honoree, batted .381 (.430 OBP/.452 slugging) with 59 hits and 26 RBI in 155 at-bats. In 40 games played, he scored 29 runs and accounted for five doubles, three triples, and two stolen bases. He had 17 multi-hit performances this season including one five-hit game, one four-hit game, and four three-hit efforts.
Chavana, also a First Team All-SCAC honoree, carries a 10-1 record into the CWS this weekend. He currently has 74 strikeouts on the season, allowing just 39 earned runs in 85.1 innings pitched for a 4.11 ERA.
Rounding out the SCAC All-Region selections is junior first baseman MJ Metz of Trinity, senior outfielder Brian Schaub of Trinity, junior pitcher Joe Burch of Texas Lutheran and junior pitcher Samuel Conte of Trinity, all earning Third Team Region 10 honors.
To view the entire D3baseball.com All-Region 10 Team, click here.
