IRVINE, Calif. - Three standouts from the Concordia University Irvine baseball team were recognized as the West Region's best NCAA DII players on the diamond.
Juniors
Wyatt Madison and
Matthew Kaiser were named First Team All-Region and Second Team All-Region respectively by the D2CCA on Monday. The D2CCA stands for the Division 2 Conference Commissioners Association.
Kaiser and infielder
Dylan Knowles also received Honorable Mention from the National College Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA). Both organizations utilize the input of for nominations and votes of sports information directors and athletic sports communicators to celebrate the top student-athletes in the sport.
A talented two-way player, Madison was named All-Region as a Utility/Pitcher and went 5-1 with a 3.21 ERA in PacWest play. He
struck out a career-high 10 Ks against Chaminade and finished the regular season with 60 strikeouts in 60.1 IP. At the plate, the Los Alamitos High School alum started 55 PacWest games while also hitting .277 with a team-best 10 home runs and four triples to go with six doubles, six steals and 39 RBI. He finished with 15 multi-hit games including five in a row.
A First Team All-PacWest honoree, Kaiser led CUI with six complete games and two shutouts (all coming in PacWest play) including a two-hit CG shutout gem at APU's hitter-friendly field. The junior righty struck out 9 batters twice including in a complete game victory at No. 5 Point Loma. Also a Los Alamitos High School alum like Madison, Kaiser was fantastic in PacWest play going 6-3 with a 3.43 ERA in conference action. He was 6-6 overall with a 4.33 ERA while striking out 68 batters in 72.2 innings.
CLICK HERE for the full list of D2CCA All-Region Baseball Selections
Kaiser
capped off his fantastic season with a career-high 10 strikeouts in a complete game effort against Fresno Pacific during the PacWest Tournament. He was Second Team All-PacWest the season before and
tossed a no-hitter as a sophomore against nationally-ranked Westmont (only the 2nd no-hitter in CUI program history).
Knowles was named First Team All-PacWest as Concordia's starting second baseman. He led CUI with 15 doubles and 15 HBP, batted .319 with 38 RBI across 56 starts and was second on the squad with 124 assists.
A Mira Costa High school alum from Manhattan Beach, Knowles started every game he appeared in and hit safely in 38 appearances with 17 multi-hit games.
CLICK HERE for the full list of NCBWA All-Region Baseball Selections
CUI finished in second place out of 12 PacWest baseball programs and were
runner-ups at the PacWest Conference Championships for the second time in three years.
The Green and Gold finished 31-25 overall with a 27-17 mark in conference play. Both those win totals are the most under CUI head coach
Joe Turgeon during the program's NCAA DII era. The future is bright for sure as the team graduated 18 seniors in May, but Knowles was the only All-Conference player who was as senior.
CLICK HERE for a look back at the full CUI baseball schedule
