CHICAGO — University of St. Francis came away as the big winner when the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced its 2023 baseball honor roll late Friday afternoon. Highlighted by graduate outfielder Eric Maffie’s second consecutive Player of the Year award, the Fighting Saints program was recognized a league-best nine times on the awards stand after claiming the regular-season conference title.
Maffie (Coal Valley, Ill.) has had a historic season topped by his 20 home runs, which rank second on USF’s all-time single-season list. His 0.41 home runs-per-game mark is a new record for the program.
The home run total is one of six statistical categories where Maffie leads the league. He is also first in runs scored (57), doubles (24), runs batted in (62), total bases (158) and slugging percentage (.873) and second in hits with 70. The latter figure is only one hit shy of also leading the charges in that department.
Other high-ranking numbers have Maffie’s .387 batting average sitting fourth in the conference and his .469 on-base percentage sixth.
On the national scene, Maffie is sixth in doubles, eighth in slugging percentage and 12th in home runs.
Maffie was joined by his head coach, Brian Michalak, as a top vote-getter. Michalak was selected as the CCAC Coach of the Year by his peers after guiding the Saints to their first conference title since 2015, going 19-8 in league affairs.
Garnering the same top recognition on the mound was Trinity Christian College’s Jake Ostrowski (Lockport, Ill.), who was selected as the CCAC Pitcher of the Year. The senior has gotten it done as both a starter and reliever, winning six games and recording four saves in 18 total appearances. The save total is tied for the No. 1 spot in the league, while his win count is sixth and his appearances seventh.
Ostrowski also has the top earned run average in the conference with his 2.28 reading, while siting third in both total strikeouts (77) and strikeouts per game (9.76) and eighth in innings pitched (71).
The Orzech Family, meanwhile, boasts its second CCAC Freshman of the Year in Aaron Orzech (Shorewood, Ill.) from the Saint Xavier University program. Aaron follows his older brother Evan, who gained the same recognition two years ago.
In 34 games this spring, Aaron Orzech is hitting .337 with 18 runs batted in. The catcher has also thrown out nine runners attempting to steal to rank seventh in the conference.
A total of 48 honors were presented on Friday with both a 17-member all-conference first and second team, a nine-player Gold Glove squad, four top individual awards and the CCAC Champions of Character Team award, which also went to St. Francis.
St. Ambrose University, Roosevelt University and Olivet Nazarene University all shared runner-up honors for the most awards earned with six each. Conference tournament champion Saint Xavier, Trinity Christian and Indiana University South Bend were next in line with five honors collected each.
Judson University, Trinity International University and Calumet College of St. Joseph all had two representatives from their programs recognized, as well.
Gaining the most all-conference spots with six was Olivet Nazarene, which also had the highest amount of second-team picks with five. St. Ambrose, Trinity Christian and Indiana South Bend all tied for having the most first-team selections with three.
Of the 17 first-team recipients, Trinity International’s Blake Lazaris (Richfield, Wis.) and Trinity Christian’s Michael Moralez (Portage, Ind.) were both selected for the third year in a row. Maffie and Olivet Nazarene’s Kai Hudson (St. Petersburg, Fla.) were repeat choices.
On the Gold Glove team, St. Ambrose, St. Francis and Roosevelt each earned a conference-best two spots with St. Francis’ Jake Vera (Chicago, Ill.) and Luke Ketchum (Springfield, Ill.) being the only repeat selections.
2023 BASEBALL POSTSEASON AWARDS
Player of the Year Eric Maffie – St. Francis (Ill.)
Pitcher of the Year Jake Ostrowski – Trinity Christian
Freshman of the Year Aaron Orzech – Saint Xavier
Coach of the Year Brian Michalak – St. Francis (Ill.)
Champions of Character Team University of St. Francis (Ill.)
Gold Glove Team
1B Cooper Huckabone Sr. St. Ambrose Mount Pleasant, Iowa
2B Patrick Hayes Sr. Saint Xavier Chicago, Ill.
SS Alec MacLennan Sr. Judson Franklin, Ind.
3B Diego Munoz Sr. Roosevelt Chicago Heights, Ill.
LF Jake Vera Sr. St. Francis (Ill.) Chicago, Ill.
CF Luke Ketchum Gr. St. Francis (Ill.) Springfield, Ill.
RF Adrian Zietara Sr. St. Ambrose Chicago, Ill.
P Payton Carney Sr. Indiana South Bend Hudsonville, Mich.
C Hunter Darst Sr. Roosevelt Avon, Ill.
First Team All-Conference
C Sean Blanchard Sr. Roosevelt Romeoville, Ill.
OF Kevin Dowling So. Saint Xavier Chicago, Ill.
DH Kaleb Farnham Jr. Indiana South Bend Hamilton, Ind.
1B Cooper Huckabone Sr. St. Ambrose Mount Pleasant, Iowa
SS Kai Hudson Sr. Olivet Nazarene St. Petersburg, Fla.
P Hunter Keim Gr. St. Ambrose Rock Island, Ill.
OF Blake Lazaris Sr. Trinity International Richfield, Wis.
P William LePretre Jr. Calumet St. Joseph Chicago, Ill.
OF Eric Maffie Gr. St. Francis (Ill.) Coal Valley, Ill.
P Mack Malczewski Gr. St. Francis (Ill.) Mt. Prospect, Ill.
2B Noah McCreary Sr. St. Ambrose Davenport, Iowa
OF Kole Miller Sr. Indiana South Bend Howe, Ind.
UT Michael Moralez Sr. Trinity Christian Portage, Ind.
P Jake Ostrowski Sr. Trinity Christian Lockport, Ill.
P Nico Saldias So. Saint Xavier Ajax, Ontario
3B Logan Smith Sr. Indiana South Bend Greensburg, Ind.
C Jordan Veldman Sr. Trinity Christian Mahomet, Ill.
Second Team All-Conference
P Robbie Berger Sr. Indiana South Bend South Bend, Ind.
P Brandon Callender Sr. Judson Plainfield, Ill.
3B Jack Dupuis So. Olivet Nazarene Wheaton, Ill.
P Bryan Green Sr. Roosevelt Oak Lawn, Ill.
OF Luke Ketchum Gr. St. Francis (Ill.) Springfield, Ill.
SS Jonathan Kumai Jr. Trinity International Lynnwood, Wash.
2B Sherman Martin Sr. Roosevelt Chicago, Ill.
OF Sean Moore So. Calumet St. Joseph Chicago, Ill.
UT Diego Munoz Sr. Roosevelt Chicago Heights, Ill.
C Evan Orzech Jr. Saint Xavier Shorewood, Ill.
P Sam Pileggi Jr. St. Francis (Ill.) Plainfield, Ill.
OF Hunter Slaats Sr. Trinity Christian Sussex, Wis.
1B Taylor Steig So. Olivet Nazarene Corona, Calif.
P Ethan Underwood Sr. Olivet Nazarene Woodstock, Ga.
DH Brock Webber Jr. St. Ambrose Haslet, Tex.
OF Donovan Yelle Sr. Olivet Nazarene Maple Valley, Wash.
C Geon Yoon Jr. Olivet Nazarene Seoul, South Korea