Collins and Wielt Lead the Way on All-Conference Team
A topsy-turvy regular season for SLIAC baseball, which saw plenty of balance among the teams, showed in this year's All-Conference awards with four different programs taking home top individual awards.
Parker Wielt becomes the latest Gorlok to be named the SLIAC Player of the Year. He joins a list of eight other Gorloks to win the award and the second consecutive. Wielt finished conference play with a .439 batting average with 5 home runs and 30 RBI. He also recorded 63 total bases in his 21 conference games, and was 2nd in the league with a .534 on-base percentage while striking out just four times. He ranked in the top ten in the league in runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, RBI, total bases, batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. Overall this year he is hitting .425 with 9 home runs and 48 RBI with 46 runs scored.
Caleb Collins was named the 2023 SLIAC Pitcher of the Year after leading the league with a perfect 5-0 record during conference play. The senior hurler also led the league with a 1.12 earned-run average for the Golden Eagles while also striking out a conference-best 50 batters. He held conference opponents to a .199 batting average and walked just seven batters in his seven starts. Overall this season the right-hander is 6-3 with a 2.05 earned-run average and 79 strikeouts in 11 starts. He is the fourth pitcher from Spalding to win the award and the first since 2018 when Jimi Keating was Co-Pitcher of the Year.
This year there was a tie for Newcomer of the Year with Derek Archer and Snyder Pennington receiving the honor. Archer, a pitcher for Westminster College, was 3-2 against SLIAC competition with a 4.26 earned-run average and 25 strikeouts. Overall he was 5-3 with a 3.43 E.R.A. and 48 strikeouts. He is the first Blue Jay to win the award since Mason Kirkweg in 2019.
Pennington, an infielder for Greenville University, batted .375 in his 21 conference games; finishing with 4 home runs and 19 RBI. He totaled 50 bases and 19 runs scored while recording a .398 on-base percentage. His 33 hits during conference play put him 8th in the league. Overall he hit .359 with 4 home runs and 28 RBI. He is the first Panther to receive the award since Stefan Neece in 2006.
Bill Kurich takes home his 10th career SLIAC Coach of the Year award. He guided the Gorloks to a conference record 16th consecutive regular season title, going 18-3 against SLIAC competition this spring. The Gorloks are 28-12 overall this season and are the top seed in this year's conference tournament.
The final award is the Team Sportsmanship Award which goes to Blackburn College. This is the third time in program history they have been recognized for their sportsmanship throughout the season. A complete list of the 2023 SLIAC Baseball All-Conference award winners is listed below.
| SLIAC First Team All-Conference | ||||||
| Pos | Player | School | Yr. | Hometown/High School | ||
| P | Caleb Collins | Spalding | SR | Shelbyville, Ky./Shelbyville | ||
| P | Luke Fleener | Greenville | JR | Louisville, Ill./North Clay | ||
| P | Gavin Kinworthy | Fontbonne | SO | Imperial, Mo./Windsor | ||
| P | Ben Kowalski | Webster | GR | Ottawa, Ill./Ottawa Township | ||
| C | Hunter Strong | Spalding | SO | Louisville, Ky./Pleasure Ridge Park | ||
| INF | Landon Mokris | Greenville | SR | Petersburg, Ind./North Daviess | ||
| INF | Michael Newsom | Spalding | JR | Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder | ||
| INF | Ben Swords | Webster | GR | Freeport, Ill./Freeport | ||
| INF | Parker Wielt | Webster | JR | Mount Vernon, Ill. | ||
| OF | Skyler Bushey | Westminster | SO | Saint Albans, Vt./Bellows Free | ||
| OF | Evan Evola | Webster | SO | Ottawa, Ill./Ottawa Township | ||
| OF | Jacob Spanyer | Spalding | JR | Louisville, Ky./Atherton | ||
| DH | Matt Helm | Fontbonne | SR | New Berlin, Ill./New Berlin | ||
| UT | George Schneider | Greenville | JR | New Athens, Ill./New Athens | ||
| SLIAC Second Team All-Conference | ||||||
| Pos | Player | School | ||||
| P | Joel Arsenault | Webster | JR | Centennial, Colo./Arapahoe | ||
| P | Wesley Clark | Spalding | JR | Louisville, Ky./Holy Cross | ||
| C | Charlie Burton | Webster | GR | Columbus, Ind. | ||
| INF | Drew Frey | Greenville | SR | Pocahontas, Ill./Greenville | ||
| INF | Carter Lee | Fontbonne | SR | Wildwood, Mo./Wildwood | ||
| INF | Colby Shivers | Fontbonne | JR | Rolla, Mo./Rolla | ||
| INF | Matt Staker | Webster | GR | El Cajon, Calif./St. Augustine | ||
| INF | Payton Whitehead | Westminster | JR | Belleville, Ill./Belleville West | ||
| OF | Steven Diaz | Westminster | SR | Highland, Ill./Highland | ||
| OF | Adam Holm | Blackburn | SR | Chatham, Ill./Glenwood | ||
| OF | R.J. LaRocco | Webster | JR | San Diego, Calif./Point Loma | ||
| DH | Nathaniel Martinez | Webster | JR | Orlando, Fla. | ||
| UT | Jason Pesold | Westminster | JR | Arnold, Mo./St. Pius X | ||
| SLIAC Third Team All-Conference | ||||||
| Pos | Player | School | ||||
| P | Derek Archer | Westminster | FR | St. Charles, Mo./Francis Howell North | ||
| P | Alek Elges | Webster | JR | Littleton, Colo./J.K. Mullen | ||
| P | Jordan Smevoll | Webster | JR | Dyer, Ind./Marian Catholic | ||
| C | Coltin Green | Westminster | JR | St. Anthony, Mo./St. Elizabeth | ||
| INF | Ty Kueper | Fontbonne | SR | Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo | ||
| INF | Snyder Pennington | Greenville | FR | Pekin, Ind./Eastern | ||
| INF | Ethan Tuttle | Spalding | SO | Lexington, Ky./Lafayette | ||
| OF | Matthew McDowell | Spalding | SO | Louisville, Ky./Louisville Male | ||
| OF | Rhett Pennington | Greenville | JR | Pekin, Ind./Eastern | ||
| OF | Thomas Purschke | Fontbonne | SR | St. Louis, Mo./Oakville | ||
| DH | Dryden Schroeder | Spalding | JR | Carmel, Ind./Carmel | ||
| SLIAC All-Sportsmanship Team | ||
| Player | School | |
| Skyler McManus | Blackburn | |
| Garrett Flaagan | Eureka | |
| Carter Lee | Fontbonne | |
| Logan Garrick | Greenville | |
| Ben Perrine | Principia | |
| Marcus Collins | Spalding | |
| Malik Wirges | Webster | |
| Hunter Mulholland | Westminster | |
