Beloit's baseball season has been over for a couple weeks, but the postseason awards keep rolling in for the record-setting Bucs, as Seniors
Brett Kiger and Matt O;Leary were named to the America Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-America Team Thursday night. The ABCA/Rawlings All-America teams are selected by members of the ABCA All-America committees. ABCA/Rawlings All-Region First Team selections, which were announced Tuesday, were nominated for All-America honors.
Kiger earned a spot on the Second Team, marking his second career All-America selection. The Designated Hitter from Beloit, Wis. had a record-breaking senior campaign, shattering Beloit's single season home run record with 15, which led the MWC and ranked 11th in all of D-III, while also standing as the third-highest single season total in conference history. That also helped him break the school's career home run mark, which now stands at 28. He also set a new single season school record for total bases with 119, which ranks 37th in the nation. Majoring in Physics at Beloit, Kiger also ranks in the top 10 in the MWC in slugging percentage (.705), OPS (1.165), Runs Scored (51), Hits (60), RBI (53), Doubles (15), and Walks (28), while posting a batting average of .347.
O'Leary is also making his second career All-America appearance. A second baseman from Clarendon Hills, Ill. O'Leary was the catalyst atop Beloit's high-octane offense. The Economics major broke the school and conference record for runs scored in a single season (64), while also breaking the single season school record for walks (43), which is just two shy of the conference record. He ranks sixth and seventh, respectively, in those categories in all of Division-III. In addition to that, O'Leary also ranks in the top 10 in the MWC in batting average (.369), hits (65), doubles (14), triples (3), home runs (8), RBI (43), slugging percentage (.619), on-base percentage (.500), and OPS (1.119). He started all 45 games for the Buccaneers this season, while swiping eight bases on nine attempts, en route to earning the program's first-ever MWC Player of the Year award.
Beloit is the only Midwest Conference team with a player named to the Third Team or higher. Kiger and O'Leary are the only positional players from the MWC to earn All-America status. They helped the Buccaneers to a school record 31 wins this season and the program's third-ever MWC Championship and NCAA Tournament appearance.