Complete All-OAC Baseball Team (.pdf)
BEREA, Ohio – Baldwin Wallace University senior standout pitcher and shortstop Mark Zimmerman (Akron/ Green) is the 2016 Ohio Athletic Conference Most Valuable Player and a first-team All-OAC selection for the fourth straight season. He is joined on the All-OAC squad by four Yellow Jacket teammates, including two other first-team picks.
Zimmerman was both the most valuable and most versatile player in the OAC. He also is just the third OAC and first-ever BW baseball player to earn first-team All-OAC honors for four straight year. Joining Zimmerman on the first-team for the third straight year is senior first baseman/ designated hitter and former high school teammate Hunter Handel (Akron/ Green) as well as sophomore left-handed pitcher Evan Lovick (Mentor), who was an honorable mention All-OAC choice as a freshman. Named to the second-team is senior right-handed pitcher Alex Albright (North Royalton) and named to the honorable mention squad is junior second baseman Cole Nieto (Brunswick/ Cleveland St. Ignatius). Nieto was a second-team All-OAC pick last season.
Zimmerman led the team both at the plate as its top hitter and on the mound as its staff ace. He batted .368 (60-for-163) with team-highs of 60 base hits, 15 doubles, 30 walks, a perfect 17-for-17 in stolen bases, a 472 on-base average and a .540 slugging average. He also was second with 40 runs scored and three home runs and tied for the most triples with two and tied for second with 33 runs batted-in (RBI). On the mound, he started a single-season school-record 12 games, had a 7-4 record with a 2.50 earned run average (ERA), two complete games and a pair of shutouts (one individual and one combined) and struck out a single-season school-record-tying 91 batters and walked just 15 in 75 and two-third innings pitched. Thast is 10.82 strikeouts and just 1.78 walks per nine innings pitched.
For his career, Zimmerman played in 171 games and had a .368 batting average with a school-record 242 hits in 662 at-bats with 157 runs scored, 52 doubles, 11 triples, 11 homers, 142 RBI and 40 stolen bases in 45 attempts.
Handel made the All-OAC first-team for the third straight season. This season, he batted .318 (49-for-154) with 28 runs scored, 11 doubles, two triples, three homers, a team-high 45 RBI and eight stolen bases in 12 attempts. For his career, Handel hit .343 (183-for-533) with 86 runs scored, 33 doubles, five triples, 13 homers, 147 RBI and 12 steals.
Lovick earneds his second All-OAC award. This season and once he recovered from an early-season injury, he compiled a 3-1 record with a 1.58 ERA in 16 appearances, including six starts and 10 relief appearances. Lovick also had a pair of saves. He struck out 26 batters in 47 and one-third innings and walked just nine batters. In just two seasons, Lovick has appeared in 26 games, including 13 starts, and has compiled an 8-2 record with two saves. He has struck out 54 opposing hitters in 94 and two-third innings of work and walked just 23.
Albright ended a solid four-year career by being named All-OAC. This season, he appeared in 17 games, including 11 starts, and compiled a 7-3 record with one save and a 3.52 ERA. In 71 and two-third innings pitched, Albright struck out 71 hitters and walked 28. For his career, Albright appeared in 55 contests, including 30 starts and a single-season record-tying 12 in 2014, and compiled a 20-7 record with one save and a 4.60 ERA. His 20 wins ranks in a tie for third all-time at BW. Albright struck out 169 opposing batters in 191 and two-third innings pitched.
Nieto earns his second straight All-OAC honor. This season, he batted .284 (48-for-169) with a team-high 43 runs scored, 13 doubles (second), two triples (tied for first), a team-leading five homersm 30 RBI and four steals. After three seasons, Nieto is hitting .342 (125-for-366) with 90 runs scored, 31 doubles, six triples, 10 homers, 78 RBI and 10 steals.
The Yellow Jackets compiled a 23-20 overall and 13-5 OAC record this season, tied for second place during the OAC regular season and advanced to the 2016 OAC Championship Game. The senior class graduates with a 111-65 record, three OAC Tournament appearances, including advancing to the OAC Championship Game twice, two NCAA Division III National Tournament appearances, including winning one Regional title (Mid-Atlantioc Region inn 2014) and one NCAA Division III College World Series appearance (2014).