Complete D3baseball.com Final Top-25 (.pdf)
BEREA, Ohio – The Baldwin Wallace University baseball team was slated seventh in the final D3baseball.com Top-25 National Poll after its record-breaking season and exceptional run to the 2022 NCAA Division III Baseball Championships.
BW was hot to start the 2022 campaign, notching a 10-game win streak to break its first record of the season. The Yellow Jackets returned from the spring trip with a 10-1 record, earning them national recognition early in the year. BW continued its winning ways into conference play, earning them two-game sweeps over four OAC opponents. In regular season non-conference play, BW went 18-4 with a statement win over NCAA Division I opponent The University of Akron, 17-2.
Landing third in the Ohio Athletic Conference regular season standings, the Yellow Jackets battled their way back from the loser's bracket, defeating Otterbein University and the University of Mount Union, in the OAC Tournament to earn them runner-up status and notched four OAC All-Tournament Team honorees.
The Yellow Jackets, 32-11 at the time, earned one of 18 at-large bids into the University's ninth NCAA National Tournament where the team traveled to Brockport (N.Y.) for Regionals. BW won three consecutive games to claim the Regional Championship, earning four All-Regional Team selections and the Regional Most Valuable Player, junior All-American Luke Vonderhaar (New Bremen).
Traveling to Endicott (Mass.) College for the University's first Super Regional, BW continued its hot streak, defeating the Gulls in two straight games. The Yellow Jackets clinched the Super Regional Championship and earned their place in the NCAA World Series, just one of eight teams in the country to earn a spot.
In the University's second-ever trip to the World Series, both under Head Coach Brian Harrison, BW fell to 2022 National Champion Eastern Connecticut State University and No. 6 final-ranked Trinity (Texas) University to conclude the season with an overall record of 37-13.
Earning their highest national ranking of the season, selected at seventh, BW garnered a number of team records along the way. Along with becoming the winningest team in BW Baseball history with 37 wins on the year, the 2022 Yellow Jackets now own the following records:
Most Games Played (50)
At-Bats (1,779)
Hits (601)
Runs (484)
Doubles (128)
Homeruns (73)
Homeruns Per Game (1.46)
Runs Batted In (450)
Slugging Percentage (.551)
Innings Pitched (429.0)
Pitching Strikeouts (427)
Putouts (1,284)
Fielding Average (.969)
Along the way, the Yellow Jackets also honored several award winners:
- Two American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Americans – senior shortstop Alex Ludwick (Brunswick/Padua Franciscan) and Vonderhaar
- One D3baseball.com All-American - Vonderhaar
- Four ABCA All-Region athletes – Ludwick, Vonderhaar, junior centerfielder Vincent Capolupo (Kenmore, N.Y./St. Joseph's Collegiate), and senior utility player Drew Wilson (Sagamore Hills/Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy)
- Three D3baseball.com All-Region selections – Vonderhaar, Capolupo, and Ludwick
- Four Brockport (N.Y) All-Regional honorees – Vonderhaar, junior second baseman Ryan Guggenheim (Solon), freshman third baseman Sean Kolenich (Parma/St. Edward), and Wilson
- Four First-Team All-OAC recipients – Capolupo, Ludwick, Vonderhaar, and Wilson
- One second-team All-OAC selection – junior right-handed pitcher Dawson Gabe (Lawrence, Ind.)
- Four OAC All-Tournament honorees – Capolupo, Gabe, Guggenheim, and Vonderhaar
- One College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-American – Vonderhaar
- The Elite 90 Baseball Championships Award winner - Vonderhaar
- One CoSIDA Academic All-District recipient - Vonderhaar
- Eight Academic All-OAC selections – Junior left-handed pitcher Nik Baldis (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny), junior right-handed pitcher Ethan Boyko (North Royalton), Capolupo, Guggenheim, junior catcher Cooper Harestad (Vandalia/Butler), junior right-handed pitcher Justin Sekerak (Avon Lake/St. Ignatius), junior outfielder Nick Stoltz (Geneva), and Vonderhaar
- Three OAC Hitters/Pitchers of the Week
