<rleton College Baseball team lost its ace to a season-ending injury in March, the Knights turned to Austin Heuer (Elk River, Minn.) to assume the top spot in the pitching rotation. The sophomore right-hander did not disappoint and has now been awarded All-MIAC status by the coaches throughout the conference.
Following Carleton’s spring break trip, Heuer owned a 6.00 ERA over four outings. When Alec Lawler succumbed to injury, Heuer took his game to another level as he went the distance in three of his six conference starts and owned a 3.09 ERA in MIAC games. That figure ranked fifth-best among pitchers with at least 30.0 innings during conference contests. He finished the campaign with an overall 3.96 ERA spanning 10 appearances—nine of which were starts—and limited opponents to a .228 batting average over his 50.0 innings on the hill.
Heuer’s best outing of the season came on April 11 vs. Macalester. He handcuffed the Scots all afternoon, holding the top-hitting offense in the MIAC to only two singles while collecting a career-best eight strikeouts en route to a 1-0 complete-game victory. That was one of five starts in which he allowed two earned runs or less.
While Carleton has had several juniors and seniors recognized for their mound work, Heuer joins Alex Wirta (in 2009) as the only Knights underclass pitchers since 1989 to be named to the all-conference squad.
Heuer finished the year with an overall 3-5 ledger, due largely to a lack of run support as the Knights plated only five total runs over his last five outings.