NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Senior
Sam Lavin, senior
Brock Brumley, and head coach
Matt McDonald of the St. Olaf College baseball team all collected regional accolades in the D3baseball.com and/or the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Region Teams, as announced on Tuesday.
Brumley and Lavin both earned First Team All-Region 9 honors in both listings, while McDonald was named the Region 9 Coach of the Year in the D3baseball.com awards (no coach award in ABCA honors). Lavin repeated as an all-region honoree according to both organizations for the second season in a row, while Brumley landed the first all-region accolades of his collegiate career. McDonald's regional honor was also the first of his career.
Tuesday's announcements made Brumley and Lavin the first pair of St. Olaf teammates to earn ABCA/Rawlings All-Region honors in the same season since 2019 and the first Ole duo to pick up D3baseball.com All-Region honors in the same season since 2013. St. Olaf has had 22 student-athletes account for 35 ABCA/Rawlings All-Region awards since 2003 and seven student-athletes account for nine D3baseball.com All-Region accolades since the honor started in 2013. Lavin is one of 10 multiple-time ABCA All-Region selections in program history and one of just two Oles to be a D3baseball.com All-Region selection twice, along with Jake Mathison '18 (2017, 2018).
Brumley was the lone relief pitcher on the D3baseball.com First Team and one of four pitchers on the ABCA/Rawlings First Team after a standout senior campaign. The Eagan native made 20 out of his 21 appearances in relief, going 2-1 with eight saves and a 2.25 ERA. In 36.0 innings of work, Brumley held opponents to a .222 batting average with 33 strikeouts and just 12 walks. The right-hander's eight saves this season established a new single-season program record and rank tied for sixth in the country entering the NCAA Division III World Series, while his 21 appearances were one shy of the program record.
Lavin repeated as an ABCA/Rawlings First Team All-Region 9 honoree and moved up from the second team to the first team on the D3baseball.com list after a standout two-way senior season that also saw him named the MIAC Player of the Year. Offensively, Lavin started all 44 games for St. Olaf, hitting .379 (61-for-161) with a .467 on-base percentage and .596 slugging percentage while tallying 11 doubles, three triples, six home runs, 27 walks, six stolen bases, 43 runs scored, and 49 RBI. He also started 10 of his 14 appearances on the mound, going 8-2 with two saves and a 3.14 ERA. In 63.0 innings, the Algonquin, Ill. native limited opponents to a .204 batting average and struck out 93 batters – the second-highest total in program history – against 27 walks. Lavin's mark of 13.29 strikeouts per nine innings ranks 11th in NCAA Division III this season, while his 93 strikeouts are tied for 19th and his eight wins are tied for 31st.
McDonald was named the Region 9 Coach of the Year for the first time in his career after guiding St. Olaf to a 30-14 overall record this spring for its first 30-win season since 2009. The Oles won the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) regular-season title for the first time since 2007 by going 17-3, which was the program's best conference mark since 2002 and its joint third-best MIAC record ever. McDonald also led St. Olaf to the championship game of the MIAC Playoffs, as the Oles fell just one game shy of their first MIAC Playoff title since 2009.
Along with the rest of the First Team All-Region selections, Brumley and Lavin are eligible for All-America honors from both organizations. The D3baseball.com All-America Teams will be posted on Wednesday, May 29 and the ABCA/Rawlings All-America Teams will be announced on the evening of Thursday, May 30.
