Posted: May 20, 2015
Complete ABCA/Rawlings All-Mideast Region Teams (.pdf)
BEREA, Ohio – Two members of the record setting Baldwin Wallace University baseball team have been selected to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-Mideast Region team.
The ABCA/Rawlings All-Region teams are voted on by members of the American Baseball Coaches Association and the process is led by the ABCA NCAA Division III All-America Committee. All-Region first-team selections are nominated for ABCA/Rawlings All-America honors.
Junior All-Ohio Athletic Conference third baseman/pitcher Mark Zimmerman (Akron/ Green) was selected to the first team while sophomore All-OAC second baseman Cole Nieto (Brunswick/ Cleveland St. Ignatius) was named to the second-team.
Zimmerman, who was a second-team pick last season, led the team in team in triples with five and runs scored with 46. He finished second in hitting at .379, total bases with 102, runs batted-in (RBIs) with 42 and was tied for second in doubles with 14. Zimmerman also pitched 65 innings on the mound and had a record of 5-3 with a team-best 68 strikeouts, 30 walks and an earned run average (ERA) of 3.74. Earlier this season, he garnered his third consecutive first-team All-OAC selection, was named first-team D3baseball.com All-Mideast Region and was named to the to the 2015 OAC All-Tournament team.
For his career, Zimmerman has appeared in 129 games, including 19 appearances on the mound. He is the school record-holder for at-bats in a season with 217. Zimmerman has a career batting average of .365 with 37 doubles, nine triples, eight homeruns and 109 RBIs. He has a lifetime 3.97 ERA with 86 strikeouts and 43 walks in 81.2 innings pitched.
Nieto, who garners his first career honor, led the team in batting average at .383, at-bats with 180, hits with 69, doubles with 16 and total bases with 108. He was second in homeruns with five, tied for second in triples with four and was third in RBIs with 41. In his first season as a starter, Nieto also garnered second-team D3baseball.com All-Mideast Region and second-team All-OAC accolades. He also was the OAC Hitter of the Week on May 4.
For his career, Nieto has a career batting average of .391 (77-for-197) with 47 runs scored, 18 doubles, four triples, five home runs, 48 RBI's and six stolen bases.
BW finished with a school-record 31 victories (fourth straight year the record was either tied for broken) and 31-12 overall and advanced to the NCAA Division III regional tournament for the second straight year. The Yellow Jackets advanced to their first-ever Division III College World Series in 2014.
