May 26, 2017

Zapata First Team All-American by ABCA, Zapata and Schimpf Honored by D3Baseball.com

SHREVEPORT, La. - Junior catcher Chris Zapata and senior outfielder Michael Schimpf, two days after receiving First Team All-Region recognition, were named All-American by D3Baseball.com on Thursday, May 25. Zapata earned First Team Accolades, while Schimpf appeared on the Second Team.

Zapata became the first Gent to be named a First Team All-American by D3Baseball.com. The 2017 SCAC Player of the Year and two-time First Team All-Region catcher leads the nation with 71 RBI's and sits second in RBI's per game (1.58). He also led the conference and ranks third in the nation with 131 total bases. He easily led the conference in both home runs (12) and slugging percentage (.732), and finished second on the team and third in the conference with a .391 batting average. Zapata broke the single-season Centenary record for RBI's while finishing fourth in slugging percentage and fifth in total bases in the season annals.

On SCAC Tournament Championship Day against Trinity on April 30, he fittingly broke the single-season RBI record with a two-run home run in the first game, while belting a grand slam in the first inning of game two to break the career record. The Gents went on to win its first ever SCAC Tournament Title and advance to the NCAA Tournament with a 13-3 win over the Tigers in seven innings.

Schimpf garnered Second Team honors after finishing with a .405 batting average in 2017 - becoming only the second player to lead the conference in batting average for a season twice in his career. He was the only player in the SCAC with an on-base percentage above .500, finishing sixth in the nation at .547. Schimpf finished second in the SCAC to other Gents in runs scored (54), RBI's (47), and slugging percentage (.622).

Schimpf completed his four years in a Gents uniform ranking in the top-10 in numerous categories in the Centenary career annals, including first with 53 hit-by-pitches, second with 166 runs and eight triples, third with 223 hits and 300 total bases, sixth with a .366 batting average and with 34 doubles, and 10th with 37 stolen bases.

The Diamond Gents honorees were the only two players from the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference who were named to the First, Second, or Third Team. Zapata and Schimpf represent only the second and third All-Americans for head coach Mike Diaz, joining Taylor Henry, who received D3Baseball.com Second Team All-American honors in 2015.

First team

Pos.	Name, School	Yr.	Avg.	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	Fld.%
C	Chris Zapata, Centenary (La.)	Jr.	.391	37	70	17	4	12	71	8	.991
1B	Nick Sotiros, North Central (Ill.)	Sr.	.347	40	66	18	4	7	60	3	.986
2B	Tanner Nishioka, Pomona-Pitzer	Sr.	.441	48	67	12	1	18	53	8	.966
3B	Michael Mateja, North Central (Ill.)	So.	.414	59	77	13	8	4	35	21	.931
SS	Bryan VanDuser, Concordia-Chicago	So.	.413	56	74	12	3	4	35	19	.929
OF	Trey Mears, Wesley	Sr.	.500	56	68	14	1	7	54	41	.984
OF	Ian Mikowski, Adrian	Sr.	.472	68	83	6	4	0	13	42	.990
OF	Alex Zachary, Eastern Connecticut	Sr.	.404	42	61	14	2	9	42	25	.980
DH	Casey Bell, LaGrange	Sr.	.374	49	73	22	0	3	49	6	-
UTL	Pete Grasso, Salisbury	Sr.	.381	53	72	13	3	8	47	8	.966

Pos.	Name, School	Yr.	ERA	W-L	Sv.	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	Opp. avg.
SP	Billy Dimlow, Emory	So.	1.09	6-2	0	74	62	9	14	83	.209
SP	Josh Fleming, Webster	Jr.	0.68	8-1	0	92.2	54	7	12	115	.165
SP	Phil Mary, Mount Union	So.	0.78	10-0	2	81	58	7	16	62	.199
SP	Heath Renz, UW-Whitewater	Jr.	1.96	9-0	1	69	54	15	13	55	.215
RP	Matt Curry, TCNJ	Jr.	0.84	9-0	7	32	16	3	3	27	.148
UTL	Pete Grasso, Salisbury	Sr.	2.17	9-1	4	91.1	77	22	36	89	.227

Second team

Pos.	Name, School	Yr.	Avg.	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	Fld.%
C	Ryan Orgielewicz, Johns Hopkins	Sr.	.403	40	73	16	2	13	56	8	.996
1B	Jamie Lackner, Wooster	Sr.	.408	49	69	11	1	8	58	5	.998
2B	Kyle Fackler, Elizabethtown	Sr.	.443	45	77	14	3	1	28	8	.948
3B	Eric Hamilton, Oswego State	Sr.	.434	40	69	20	0	4	36	16	.966
SS	Conor Reynolds, Johns Hopkins	Jr.	.366	58	56	17	2	9	33	13	.917
OF	Rob DeAngelis, Ramapo	Sr.	.429	45	73	11	4	1	29	6	.988
OF	Cole Migliorini, Randolph-Macon	Jr.	.399	47	61	13	4	9	45	9	.975
OF	Michael Schimpf, Centenary (La.)	Sr.	.405	54	60	12	4	4	48	10	.976
DH	Daniel Williams, Texas-Tyler	Sr.	.395	36	79	13	0	8	53	7	.929
UTL	Ryan Orr, Kalamazoo	Jr.	.331	31	47	5	0	0	31	10	.957

Pos.	Name, School	Yr.	ERA	W-L	Sv.	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	Opp. avg.
SP	Caleb Boushley, UW-La Crosse	Sr.	1.75	9-3	1	103	75	20	19	106	.202
SP	Joe Cirillo, TCNJ	Jr.	1.48	5-1	0	85.1	63	14	20	73	.209
SP	Riley Groves, Washington & Jefferson	Sr.	2.03	10-2	0	79.2	67	18	16	61	.223
SP	Felix Minjarez, Redlands	Jr.	2.30	12-2	0	94	89	24	25	105	.253
RP	T.J. Storer, Ohio Northern	Sr.	1.69	1-0	14	21.1	17	4	6	12	.224
UTL	Ryan Orr, Kalamazoo	Jr.	3.05	7-2	3	73.2	67	25	11	77	.233

Third team

Pos.	Name, School	Yr.	Avg.	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	Fld.%
C	Derek Helbing, Washington & Jefferson	Sr.	.325	51	53	12	0	11	53	9	.972
1B	Conner Combs, East Texas Baptist	Sr.	.400	54	70	12	2	10	45	18	.981
2B	Mitch Wilson, Concordia-Chicago	Jr.	.366	48	63	15	1	6	38	18	.980
3B	Tyler Cook, Chapman	Sr.	.431	42	72	14	1	8	39	3	.919
SS	Ryan Dorow, Adrian	Sr.	.422	50	75	15	8	2	54	3	.956
OF	Dylan Hapworth, Southern Maine	Fr.	.394	45	63	14	4	9	41	3	.963
OF	Ian Kobernick, Kalamazoo	Sr.	.428	48	74	17	3	7	52	9	.972
OF	Jacob Thumann, Wartburg	Sr.	.343	44	61	11	1	13	48	9	.980
DH	Jake Loew, Shenandoah	Sr.	.365	47	70	14	4	10	59	1	.920
UTL	Kyle Uhrich, Webster	Sr.	.288	30	46	12	4	6	30	2	.983

Pos.	Name, School	Yr.	ERA	W-L	Sv.	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	Opp. avg.
SP	Stephen Himic, Birmingham-Southern	Jr.	2.28	10-0	0	83	75	21	16	56	.245
SP	Jimi Keating, Spalding	Jr.	1.62	11-2	0	100	67	18	10	124	.186
SP	Tommy Parsons, Adrian	Jr.	2.23	12-1	0	93	92	23	7	101	.256
SP	Speros Varinos, Tufts	Sr.	1.98	8-1	1	77.1	67	17	11	86	.233
RP	Aaron Barteau, Mary Hardin-Baylor	Sr.	2.05	2-1	13	26.1	18	6	9	44	.191
UTL	Kyle Uhrich, Webster	Sr.	2.29	7-3	4	59	26	15	25	90	.131

Honorable mention

Pos.	Name, School	Yr.	Avg.	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	Fld.%
C	Rainier Aguilar, Redlands	So.	.424	25	59	9	2	2	39	0	1.000
1B	Chris Fowler, Mass-Boston	Jr.	.366	36	63	12	4	6	46	4	.988
2B	Kyle Hartenstein, Mitchell	Jr.	.422	51	70	19	1	3	43	6	.954
3B	Ian Velez, La Roche	Sr.	.435	41	73	14	2	0	41	7	.864
SS	Kyle Bonicki, Clark	Jr.	.391	50	61	20	7	4	31	12	.975
OF	Brady Chant, Suffolk	Jr.	.361	47	69	13	12	4	35	17	.978
OF	Billy Goodall, Mount Union	Jr.	.451	40	69	14	2	3	34	25	.965
OF	Nick Vento, Washington & Jefferson	Sr.	.433	47	81	17	1	8	57	13	.976
DH	Scott Walters, Trinity (Texas)	Sr.	.400	45	64	16	6	1	30	19	.930
UTL	Ben Havel, Elmhurst	Sr.	.433	38	68	13	0	10	48	1	.985

Pos.	Name, School	Yr.	ERA	W-L	Sv.	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	Opp. avg.
SP	Cason Cunningham, Linfield	So.	2.13	5-1	0	84.1	43	20	39	104	.154
SP	Ryan Gaines, Birmingham-Southern	Sr.	2.93	11-0	0	101.1	103	33	13	82	.261
SP	Austin Jones, UW-Whitewater	Jr.	1.91	8-3	1	85	62	18	20	83	.202
SP	Brad Margolin, Washington U.	Sr.	1.98	9-2	0	82	56	18	7	69	.190
RP	Nathan Schneidermann, Dubuque	So.	0.47	6-1	5	38	18	2	8	42	.145