By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — During his freshman season with the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota baseball team, James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) did not record a single hit in the Cardinals' 36 games.
 
But when the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference announced its post-season awards on Tuesday, Green belted out a triple—earning First-Team All-MIAC honors, while also being selected the league's Rookie of the Year and landing a spot on the MIAC All-Defensive Team.
 
And Green wasn't the only Saint Mary's athlete on the conference's awards podium, as senior shortstop Joe Seegers (Oconomowoc, Wis.) joined him on the MIAC's All-Defensive Team.
 
Macalester's Graham Low was presented the Max Molock Player of the Year Award, while Jake Dickmeyer of Saint John's earned the Mike Augustin Pitcher of the Year Award and SJU's Jerry Haugen was named the Jim Dimick Coach of the Year.
 
To say Green turned a few heads during his freshman campaign would be an understatement.
 
One of just two freshmen named to the All-MIAC First-Team, Green made five conference starts on the mound, throwing three complete games—including one shutout—while posting a 2-2 record and a 1.71 ERA in 31 2/3 innings of work. Green—who was flawless in the field during those five MIAC starts, posting two put-outs and six assists in eight chances—walked just four batters and struck out 28 in helping the Cardinals to a third-place regular-season conference finish and the No. 3 seed in the MIAC Playoffs.
 
Overall, Green appeared in nine games, all starts, compiling a 2-3 record and a team-best 1.68 ERA. The freshman right-hander—who recorded his first collegiate shutout in a 2-0 Game 1 win over Macalester on April 25, and notched his first Cardinal pitching win with a 3-2 Game 1 win over Gustavus on April 21—logged a team-high 59.0 innings pitched with three complete games and a team-leading 49 strikeouts.
 
Seegers, named to the MIAC All-Defensive Team for the second straight year, was a human vacuum cleaner for the Cardinals at shortstop—where he started all 20 conference games—making just four errors in 87 chances, posting 25 putouts and 58 assists. At the plate, Seegers hit .299 in conference play, collecting 20 hits in 67 at-bats, while scoring 13 runs and adding three stolen bases.
 
Seegers started all 36 games for the Cardinals at short, closing out his senior year with a .323 batting average, while leading the team in at-bats (127), runs (27), hits (41), triples (3), walks (15), and stolen bases (7). In the field, Seegers finished with a .951 fielding percentage, posting 51 putouts and 104 assists in 163 chances.
 
The MIAC also announced the 11th annual All-MIAC Sportsmanship team for baseball, which Seegers was also named to.