<ir="ltr">Three members of the Carleton College baseball team earned All-MIAC distinction following the 2016 campaign. Senior catcher Hayden Tsutsui (Northridge, Calif./Chatsworth) closes his career with his fourth All-MIAC selection. Sophomore outfielder Griffin Bolte (Portland, Ore./Lincoln) and senior pitcher Jack Violetta (Green Bay, Wis./Bay Port) also picked up their first All-MIAC honors.
Tsutsui johns John Nielson ’91 as the only players in team history to earn all-conference status all four seasons. Finishing off his illustrious Carleton baseball career, Tsutsui ranked first in the MIAC in five offensive categories this season: batting average (.475), on-base percentage (team record .561), slugging percentage (.803), home runs (7), and total bases (98).
He hit safely in 26 of 33 games—including 19 multi-hit games—and finished with 23 extra-base hits, the second-highest figure among MIAC players. His .475 batting average not only ranks third-best in Division III this season, but it finished the regular season as the fourth-highest among all NCAA players (D-I, II, and III). Tsutsui’s on-base percentage ranks fourth in D-III and sixth across all NCAA levels. His slugging percentage was nearly 100 points better than the next closest MIAC player and ranks 11th in D-III and 20th among all NCAA players. He was also a factor defensively, nabbing .435 percent of runners attempting to steal, the third-best rate among conference catchers (min. 20 attempts).
Bolte finished the regular season second among MIAC outfielders and fourth among all players with a .430 batting average in conference games. He ranked 13th with a .464 on-base percentage and 11th with a .620 slugging in MIAC contests. Bolte collected 34 hits in conference tilts, third-best in the circuit. Of that total, a dozen went for extra-base hits, also third-highest in the MIAC. He was one of six sophomores on the All-MIAC roster.
Violetta’s strong conference season on the mound helped him solidify his spot on the All-MIAC squad. The southpaw paced the conference with five complete games and second with 48.0 innings pitched. He collected 51 strikeouts on the season, the fifth-best total in the regular-season. His 3.94 ERA in MIAC games was fourth among pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched. Violetta owned only a 2-4 ledger in conference contests, but all four of those losses came during a five-start stretch in which he received very little run support as the offense scored a total of only three runs over that span. He was one of two non-playoff bound pitchers named to the All-MIAC squad.
As part of a conference-wide sportsmanship initiative, the MIAC announced the 10th annual All-MIAC Sportsmanship team for baseball. Senior Gar Crowell (Sr./Chicago, Ill./Lincoln Park) was selected by his coaches and teammates as an individual who demonstrates ideals of positive sportsmanship both on and off the field of competition.