D3baseball.com All-Region Teams
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team was well represented when the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference handed out its post-season awards on May 13.
Five players lugged home eight awards—including three by senior outfielder
Willie Doll (Amherst, Wis.)
Doll, a First-Team All-MIAC and All-Defensive team selection—not to mention the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player—was back in the spotlight on Monday.
This time, in front of the entire nation—and once again, he wasn't alone.
Doll and fellow All-MIAC First-Teamer
Nathan Mathwig (Woodbury, Minn.) were named to the D3baseball.com All-Midwest Region First Team, while
Bob Kinne (St. Paul, Minn.) was a Second-Team selection, and
Ben Buerkle (Roseville, Minn.) and
Steph Scatassa (Westchester, Ill.) were named to the Third-Team.
Saint Mary's accounted for five of the MIAC's 14 D3baseball.com All-Region selections, while regional champ UW-La Crosse landed the Midwest Region's Player (Taylor Kohlwey), Pitcher (Caleb Boushley), and Coach (Chris Schwarz) of the Year. Augsburg's Mike Brookshaw was named the Midwest Region Rookie of the Year.
Doll was an offensive juggernaut in his final season in a Cardinal uniform, boasting a team-leading .438 batting average, while also leading the Cardinals in at-bats (160), runs (49), hits (70), on-base percentage (.523), and stolen bases (22).
Doll, who played in all 156 games during his four-year collegiate career—including 155 starts—closed out his illustrious four-year playing career as the Cardinals' all-time career leader in games played (156), at-bats (591), runs (151), hits (220), doubles (44), total bases (316), and stolen bases (80).
Mathwig had a breakout sophomore season en route to earning the All-Midwest Region First-Team's only relief pitcher selection. The left-hander made a team-high 19 appearances this season, owning a 5-1 record and a team-best 2.01 ERA in 31.1 innings. Mathwig accounted for six of the team's 11 saves, leaving him one save shy of the single-season school record of seven, set by Tyler Krysiak in 2013.
Kinne took the baseball world by storm in his first year as a Cardinal this season, earning All-MIAC First-Team honors to go with his Second-Team All-Midwest Region selection. Kinne hit .386 in 43 games (61-for-158) and amassed team-highs in home runs (8), RBIs (50), total bases (109), and slugging percentage (.690). The owner of a team-leading 13 multiple-RBI games—including a pair of career-best five RBI performances—Kinne broke the single-season school record with his 50 RBIs this season.
An All-MIAC First-Team pick, Scatassa proved to be the ace of the Cardinal pitching staff going 7-2 with a 2.17 ERA in 74.2 innings—all tops among Cardinal starters. Opposing hitters hit just .225 off Scatassa, who surrendered 18 earned runs, walked just 23 batters, and fanned a team-leading 61 batters in 13 starts. The senior right-hander accounted for two of the team's three complete games this season—including a four-hit shutout over regular-season champion St. Thomas in the opening game of the MIAC Playoffs.
Buerkle started all 43 games for the Cardinals this season, finishing second on the team in batting average (.386), runs (45), and RBIs (43), while leading the squad in triples (6) and walks (33), and sharing the team's top spot in doubles (14). Buerkle reached base safely in 42 of the Cardinals' 43 contests this season—including hits in 38 of the those 43 games—and has been held off the base paths just three times in 118 career contests.
The Cardinals finished the year with a 27-15-1 overall record—the most wins under coach
Nick Winecke and the most since 1992, when they finished 28-7. Saint Mary's made its third MIAC Playoff appearance in the last four years, falling to Saint John's 11-4 in the championship game.
