<a ‘14 headlines a group of four Carleton College players that were voted to the D3baseball.com All-Region team. The senior catcher was named to the first team, while outfielders Hayden Tsutsui ‘16 and Nolan Baker ‘15 were chosen for the second team, and shortstop David Stillerman ‘14 was a third-team selection.
D3baseball.com is the preeminent source of information regarding Division III baseball. For its All-Region awards, the website selects a first, second, and third team for each of the eight regions. Each All-Region team included 14 players—one from each of the eight defensive positions, plus a designated hitter, a utility player, three starting pitchers, and a reliever.
With four All-Region selections, Carleton tied for 10th among the 367 Division III teams. The Knights tied for the fourth-best total in the Midwest Region, a figure bettered only by Division III World Series-bound squads from UW-Whitewater (six players) and University of St. Thomas (five) as well as Concordia-Chicago (five).
Dsida paced catchers around the region with a .661 slugging percentage and was second with a .415 batting average and .489 on-base percentage. Those figures ranked sixth, seventh and seventh, respectively, among all MIAC players. Dsida’s athleticism was further displayed by the fact that despite being a catcher, he batted leadoff for the Knights and ranked 10th in NCAA Division III with seven triples.
He added another 12 doubles, which ranked sixth among MIAC players as did his 20 extra-base hits. Dsida threw out a 9 of 16 baserunners (56 percent) attempting to steal, tops among MIAC catchers with 15+ attempts against.
This is Tsutsui’s second consecutive D3baseball.com All-Region selection, having been a first-teamer in 2013 en route to being tabbed the National Rookie-of-the-Year. Tsutsui ranked fifth among region outfielders by hitting .428 this season, while his .671 slugging percentage finished eighth among the same group. He ranked fifth and third, respectively, among all MIAC players in those same statistical categories. Tsutsui added a .470 on-base percentage that was 11th in the conference. His 65 hits paced the MIAC and ranked third among region outfielders. He also led the conference with 19 doubles, tied for 17th in Division III and tops among region outfielders.
Tsutsui also tied for the MIAC lead with 26 extra-base hits as well as collecting four home runs and 35 RBI, which rank sixth and fourth, respectively, in the MIAC. He hit safely in 33 of 36 games over the course of the season, including 23 multi-hit games. Tsutsui spent the majority of the year roaming center field but also served as the team’s primary backup catcher.
Baker was selected to the utility spot on the All-Region Second Team after a torrid finish to the season both at the plate and on the mound helped him grab a spot among the MIAC’s best. He ranked 11th in the MIAC with a .409 batting average, while also finishing fourth in wins (5) and eighth in ERA (3.04) including a 2.71 ERA against MIAC playoff teams. Baker closed his junior campaign on a strong note, allowing only one run over his final 17.0 innings with no walks and 11 strikeouts. He played right field when he was not pitching, and Baker’s 29 RBI ranked 14th in the conference, with 18 of them coming during MIAC games, the sixth-highest total in the conference.
While he was not an all-conference pick, Stillerman’s body of work over the entire season made him an easy choice to the All-Region Third Team. He hit safely in 30 of 34 games played and led MIAC shortstops with .370 batting average and was tops among MIAC middle infielders with both his .437 on-base and .533 slugging percentage. Stillerman ranked in the among the MIAC overall leaders in all three figures. Seemingly always heading towards home plate, he scored in 29 different games and his 1.38 runs per game rank fourth in Division III and sixth among all NCAA players (Division I, II, and III). Stillerman’s 24 RBI ranked second among MIAC shortstops and he finished fifth in the conference in doubles (13).
The play of this quartet had a major impact on Carleton going 22-14 overall this season, posting the second-highest win total in the program’s 130+ year history.