By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — Among pitchers in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Saint Mary's University right-hander James Green (East Bethel, Minn.) was considered the best of the best.
 
And now, just weeks after being named the MIAC's Pitcher of the Year — not to mention a First-Team All-MIAC selection for the second straight year — Green was back in the post-season spotlight.
 
This time around, on a regional scale.
 
Green earned one of just three starting pitcher spots on the 14-player D3baseball.com All-Midwest Region First-Team, it was announced Thursday.
 
Green was one of four members of the MIAC named First-Team All-Midwest Region, being joined by Macalester's Graham Lowe, Joey Stock of Saint John's, and Hamline's Nolan Schoonveld.
 
UW-Whitewater's Cal Aldridge was tabbed D3baseball.com's Player of the Year, while Uw-La Crosse's Zach Pronschinske was Pitcher of the Year and Nathan Hemmerling of Lakeland was Rookie of the Year.
 
In 10 appearances this season, Green — who helped lead the Cardinals to a second straight MIAC Tournament appearance, and their sixth post-season showing in the last eight years — compiled a near-perfect 8-1 record and a microscopic 1.85 ERA.
 
The sophomore right-hander logged a team-leading 58.1 innings and pitched at least six innings in eight of his nine starts this season. Opponents hit just .194 against Green, who accounted for four of the Cardinal pitching staff's six complete games, and boasted a team-high 63 strikeouts — including a career-high 13 against No. 1-ranked Concordia-Chicago on March 22 — and walked just 10 batters.
 
The 2019 season marks the eighth year that D3baseball.com has named All-Region teams, with more than 800 players nominated this season.