Prep Baseball: Fairfield’s Tate Allen Named Conference Player of the Year

Southeast Conference (SEC)- The regular season for baseball is in the books and here’s a look at the All-Conference awards.

Burlington won the conference with a 13-1 record and had 4 players named to the 1st Team All-Conference list. Kyler Schwartz won three games on the mound with a 2.39 ERA and 49 strikeouts. Schwartz also picked up 12 RBIs at the plate. Josh Zahner batted 0.282 with 3 home runs and 20 RBIs for the season and went undefeated on the mound with a 5-0 record. Hunter Ford led the team in batting average with a 0.373 average as he also hit two home runs with 28 RBIs, the conference leader. Ford also knocked 13 doubles. Moise Cordero, the senior, batted 0.289 on the season with one home run and 20 RBIs along with 8 doubles. Cordero claimed 13 of those RBIs in conference play.

Alex Fawcett, Christos Kantzavelos, and Logan Messer were named All-Conference 2nd Team. Noah Nixon was an Honorable Mention.

Fairfield grabbed 2nd place in conference with a 9-6 record as two players were named to the All-Conference 1st Team. Tate Allen, a senior, led the team in batting average with a 0.316 average as he clobbered 5 doubles with 17 RBIs. Allen also won 5 games on the mound with a 2.03 ERA with 57 strikeouts. Tallon Bates was also a force on the mound with a 3.42 ERA and 2 wins. Bates also batted 0.315 with a home run and 27 RBIs as he also collected two triples.

Dain Burkhart, Landon Nodruft, and Caden Allison were all named to the All-Conference 2nd Team. Aidan Kreuter and Aiden Westercamp were named All-Conference Honorable Mentions.

Mt. Pleasant finished with an 8-7 conference mark. Zerek Venghaus was named to the 1st Team All-Conference list as he ranked 4th in the conference in batting average with a 0.371 average. Venghaus also scored 21 runs and hit home 14 runs, while collecting 3 wins on the mound with 22 strikeouts and a 2.07 ERA.

Carter Amos, Payton Walker, and Jake Ensminger were all named to the All-Conference 2nd Team. Amos hit for a team leading 24 RBIs and tied for the team lead in home runs with two along with Walker. Walker also hit 0.312 and brought in 15 runs. Ensminger finished the season with 13 RBIs and 2 wins on the mound.

J.C. Sitar and Payson Coleman earned All-Conference Honorable Mentions.

Fort Madison and Keokuk tied with 5-10 conference records, and each had two players be recognized as All-Conference 1st Team. The Bloodhounds had Kane Williams and Brennan Ulik named to the team and the Chiefs had Bryor Lindner and Blake Chase receive the nod. Williams hit for a 0.364 average with 11 RBIs, while Ulik batted for a 0.312 average with three triples and 12 RBIs. Lindner brought home 18 runs and hit for a 0.304 average, while Chase led the team with a 0.368 batting average and tallied 19 RBIs. ,

For the Bloodhounds, Hunter Cresswell, who led the conference in batting average, was named All-Conference 2nd Team as Tatem Schelich and Cason Barnes earned an Honorable Mention.

For Keokuk, Jacob Lantz and Brenton Hoard earned 2nd Team All-Conference honors, while Bennett Church and Brendan Worster were All-Conference Honorable Mentions.

Washington finished with a 4-10 conference record. Isaac Vetter was the lone Demon to be named All-Conference 1st Team. The Senior batted 0.319 on the season with 7 RBIs and 12 runs scored. He also collected a win on the season with a 4.85 ERA.

Caleb Zieglowsky and Luke Beenblossom were each All-Conference Honorable Mentions.

The SEC Player of the Year award went to Tate Allen for his impressive season at the plate and on the mound for the Trojans.