CHICAGO — A tight race during the regular season resulted in a tight race on the awards stand Thursday afternoon when the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced its baseball postseason honor roll.  Of the nine teams in the league, six gained no less than five accolades with no school earning more than nine.

Conference regular-season co-champion Judson University came out on top in the end with nine awards, edging out the other two co-champions in Saint Xavier University and St. Ambrose University, which each gained eight recognitions.  University of St. Francis and Viterbo University followed with six honorees each, with Olivet Nazarene University collecting five awards.

Also represented on the honor roll was Indiana University South Bend with four picks and Trinity Christian College with a pair of selections as part of the 48 total awards presented on the day.

Judson also garnered the most all-conference picks with seven, sharing that distinction with Saint Xavier.  SXU boasted the most first-team selections with six, while Judson’s five second-team choices led that category.  St. Francis was tops defensively with five of the nine members on the Gold Glove Team.

The two all-conference teams were made up of 17 individuals each.  Of those named to the first squad, only two were repeat selections and both were from Saint Xavier, Justin Massingale (Carbondale, Ill.) and Sean Moore (Chicago, Ill.).

Headlining the group was St. Ambrose’s Jeremy Conforti (Villa Park, Ill.), who was named the CCAC Player of the Year to go along with his all-conference first-team selection and Gold Glove recognition at first base.

The senior ranks among the Top 10 players in the conference in seven categories, including leading the pack in doubles (20), runs batted in (68) and total bases (132).  A .356 hitter on the season, he also sits second in the league in home runs (13), third in slugging percentage (.680), fourth in hits (69) and tenth in triples with two.

Recognized as the CCAC Pitcher of the Year was Saint Xavier’s Jimmy Fairley (Lake In The Hills, Ill.), who is currently 10-1 on the campaign with a 2.02 earned run average.  Both the wins and ERA are No. 1 in the conference, while the latter number is seventh-best in the nation.

Fairley is also tied for the No. 2 position in shutouts (one) and the No. 10 slot in complete games (one), while ranking third in innings pitched (66 2/3).

The other top individual player honor went to Olivet Nazarene’s Alex Seaton (Delavan, Ill.), who was awarded CCAC Freshman of the Year distinction after amassing eight Top 10 statistical rankings in his rookie campaign.  The runner-up in the league in both hits (75) and batting average (.412), he also currently sits fourth in triples (three) and fifth in on-base percentage (.486).

Seaton is No. 6 in walks (27), No. 9 in doubles (15) and total bases (96) and tenth in runs scored (45), as well.

On the coaching front, Judson head coach Evan Ruechel was selected as the CCAC Coach of the Year after leading the Eagles to the co-championship and turning around a nine-win team in 2024 to a 30-game winner this spring.  Overall, Judson went 30-23 after last year’s 9-41 report.

2025 BASEBALL POSTSEASON AWARDS
Player of the Year-Jeremy Conforti – St. Ambrose
Pitcher of the Year– Jimmy Fairley – Saint Xavier
Freshman of the Year- Alex Seaton – Olivet Nazarene
Coach of the Year -Evan Ruechel – Judson
Champions of Character Team– St. Ambrose University
Gold Glove Team
1B Jeremy Conforti Sr. St. Ambrose Villa Park, Ill.
2B Max Montgomery Jr. St. Francis (Ill.) Orland Park, Ill.
SS Lucas Brown Jr. Indiana South Bend Toronto, Ontario
3B Drew Dant Gr. St. Francis (Ill.) Highland, Ill.
LF Cliff Vickers Sr. St. Francis (Ill.) Naperville, Ill.
CF Kevin Flores Jr. Judson Dominican Republic
RF Jake Klepacz Sr. St. Francis (Ill.) Woodridge, Ill.
P Sean Michalak Gr. St. Francis (Ill.) New Lenox, Ill.
C Nick Turner Jr. Indiana South Bend Wingate, Ind

First Team All-Conference
1B Jeremy Conforti Sr. St. Ambrose Villa Park, Ill.
SS Hudson Deal Jr. Judson Port Washington, Wis.
P Jimmy Fairley Gr. Saint Xavier Lake In The Hills, Ill.
OF Kevin Flores Jr. Judson Dominican Republic
OF Xavier Gilmore Jr. Viterbo Washougal, Wash.
P Brandon Jaenke Sr. Viterbo Fall Creek, Wis.
DH Gabe Kirck Gr. Saint Xavier Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.
OF Taiki Kondo Jr. Trinity Christian Shiga, Japan
RP Trent Markezich Jr. Saint Xavier Mount Olive, Ill.
2B Justin Massingale Sr. Saint Xavier Carbondale, Ill.
C Jake Merda Jr. St. Francis (Ill.) Chicago, Ill.
OF Sean Moore Sr. Saint Xavier Chicago, Ill.
P Brad Niedzwiedz Gr. St. Ambrose Batavia, Ill.
C Aaron Orzech Jr. Saint Xavier Shorewood, Ill.
P Anthony Sanchez Sr. Viterbo Fontana, Calif.
3B Alex Seaton Fr. Olivet Nazarene Delavan, Ill.
UT Brett Stuessel Sr. Viterbo Sparta, Wis

Second Team All-Conference
P Alijah Acevedo Jr. Judson Elgin, Ill.
OF Aden Aukland Jr. Olivet Nazarene Plainfield, Ill.
OF Gavin Daniel Sr. Viterbo Oconomowoc, Wis.
SS Jack Dupuis Sr. Olivet Nazarene Wheaton, Ill.
1B Kaleb Farnham Sr. Indiana South Bend Hamilton, Ind.
2B Spencer Hans Sr. Viterbo Johnson Creek, Wis.
P Matt Johnston Gr. Judson Des Plaines, Ill.
UT Shane Jones Jr. Trinity Christian Homewood, Ill.
C Takumi Kimoto Sr. Olivet Nazarene Miles City, Mont.
DH Brandon Matias Gr. St. Ambrose Glenview, Ill.
P Logan McCleery Sr. Saint Xavier Patterson, Calif.
C Filip Milatovic Jr. St. Ambrose Chicago, Ill.
RP Parker Ruth Sr. St. Ambrose Eldridge, Iowa
OF Kyle Schwartz So. Judson Benoni, South Africa
3B Blake Stempowski Jr. Judson Geneva, Ill.
P Riley Thomas Jr. Indiana South Bend Chesterton, Ind.
OF Daley Thompson Sr. Judson Eureka, Mo.