CLAREMONT, Calif. - Designated hitter
Andrew Mazzone of the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball team earned first-team All-America honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association, while first baseman
Alex Henderson captured a spot on the second team, and
Dillon Martin was selected to the fourth team, the organization announced last night.
CMS had three honorees after it sett a program record for wins in a season with 35, surpassing the previous mark of 32 set by last year's team. The Stags also won their first-ever NCAA regional and competed in the Super Regionals for the first time.
Mazzone earned first-team All-America honors from the ABCA for the second year in a row. He currently leads the nation in hitting at .496 and in on-base percentage at .623, while ranking second in slugging percentage at .979, and fifth in home runs per game.
In two seasons with the Stags, Mazzone broke the program's career home record of 38, passing the old mark of 36 which was set by Steve Uejio (1997-2000), who was inducted into the CMS Hall of Fame in January. Mazzone set the single-season record last year with 20, and had 18 more this season, despite missing three weeks with an injury.
Henderson, meanwhile, nearly surpassed the single-season mark with a spectacular finish, ending the year with 19 home runs, 11 of which came in seven NCAA Tournament games. He had a pair of three-homer contests in the NCAA Regionals, one against Buena Vista and one in the regional finals against Wisconsin-La Crosse, and he closed out with a two-homer game against Endicott in the Super Regionals.
In addition to his home runs, Henderson set a single-season record for runs batted in at CMS with 69. His RBI per game ranks him in the top 10 in the country in Division III (seventh) with the nationals still going on through this weekend.
Martin earned his first All-America selection of his young career after batting .336 on the year with 31 extra base hits, including a team-high 18 doubles and six triples, to go along with seven homers and 58 RBI. He also committed only eight errors all season at shortstop, finishing with a .963 fielding percentage, after playing his rookie season a year ago at second base.
