BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – The St. Olaf College baseball team earned three of the four major awards by landing the Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, and Coach of the Year in the 2024 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Baseball Awards, as announced on Tuesday afternoon.
In a vote by the league's head coaches, senior
Sam Lavin was selected as the Max Molock Player of the Year, first year
Cole Pleimann was chosen as the Rookie of the Year, and
Matt McDonald was honored as the Jim Dimick Coach of the Year. Lavin and Pleimann were two of St. Olaf's five honorees on the All-Conference Team as they were joined by senior
Joey Glampe, junior
Evan Hammonds, and senior
Brock Brumley. Juniors
Matthew Kulesa and
Jacob Fickenscher landed on the honorable-mention list. Lavin, Kulesa, and sophomore
Breckin Hadley were also selected to the All-Playoff Team.
Tuesday's announcement made St. Olaf the first program to earn three of the four major awards since the University of St. Thomas in 2021 and just the second since Bethel University in 2015. The Oles have now had at least five All-MIAC honorees 14 times in program history.
Lavin became St. Olaf's fifth MIAC Baseball Player of the Year following a standout two-way season, joining Brian Sprout (2000, 2001), Todd Mathison (2008), and Tyler Jones (2010) in collecting the conference's top honor. The senior was voted to the All-Conference Team as both a pitcher and designated hitter after ranking in the conference's top 15 in eight hitting categories and the top 10 in six pitching categories in MIAC play. On the mound, Lavin led the conference in strikeouts (48) while ranking second in opponent batting average (.159), third in ERA (2.23), tied for third in wins (4), tied for fourth in complete games (2), and seventh in inning pitching. At the plate, he was tied for fourth in hits (30), tied for sixth in runs (20), ninth in batting average (.395), 10th in OPS (1.014) and total bases (42), tied for 11th in RBI (19), 12th in on-base percentage (.461), and tied for 13th in walks.
In addition to his All-MIAC accolade, Pleimann became the second Ole to be named the MIAC Baseball Rookie of the Year, joining Erik Nelson who was the first Rookie of the Year in the conference back in 2009. In MIAC play, Pleimann ranked tied for 10th in walks (11), tied for 11th in hits (27) and RBI (19), 14th in on-base percentage (.453), 15th in batting average (.375), tied for 17th in runs (17), 22nd in OPS (.939) and total bases (35), and tied for 25th in doubles (5).
McDonald was recognized with MIAC Coach of the Year honors for the fourth time in his career (1998, 2000, 2007, 2024) and joined Bucky Burgau of Concordia-Moorhead (four times) and Dennis Denning of the University of St. Thomas (seven times) as the only coaches in the conference to be named Coach of the Year at least four times. McDonald led St. Olaf to its 18th MIAC regular-season title – its first since 2007 – with a 17-3 record and guided the Oles to within one win of their fourth MIAC Playoff championship.
Glampe closed out his career by collecting his first All-MIAC accolade as part of a season that saw him drive in 47 runs in St. Olaf's 40 games. Against MIAC opposition, the senior ranked in the top 25 in doubles (t-14th, 6), hits (t-17th, 24), home runs (t-17th, 2), total bases (t-19th, 36), runs (t-20th, 16), RBI (t-22nd, 14), batting average (23rd, .353), and slugging percentage (23rd, .529).
Hammonds was named to the All-Conference Team for the second season in a row after another standout season atop the lineup and in center field for the Oles. In 20 MIAC games, Hammonds was tied for first in the conference in runs (22), third in hits (35), tied for third in triples (2), fifth in batting average (.407), tied for fifth in total bases (48), tied for ninth in RBI (20), 11th in OPS (1.010), tied for 14th in doubles (6), and 15th in slugging percentage (.558) and on-base percentage (.453).
Brumley was the top closer in the MIAC this season during a senior year that saw him set the single-season program record with eight saves. The right-hander appeared in relief in 12 of St. Olaf's 20 conference games, going 2-0 with six saves and a 1.89 ERA. In 19.0 innings of work, Brumley struck out 15 batters while allowing just 15 hits and a .217 opponent batting average.
Kulesa started all 20 conference games for the Oles, hitting .373 (28-for-75) with four doubles, six RBI, eight walks, and 20 runs while getting on base at a .449 clip. In five starts against MIAC foes, Fickenscher was 3-1 with a 4.18 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 23.2 innings pitched.
In St. Olaf's five playoff games, Kulesa was 6-for-13 with an RBI and six runs, while Hadley was 6-for-15 with a home run, three RBI, and four runs. In two appearances on the mound, Lavin was 2-0 and struck out 15 batters in 8.2 innings while yielding just six hits and three runs. Lavin also was tied for the team lead with six RBI in the five postseason contests.
