St. Ambrose's Conforti Headlines Baseball Postseason Honor Roll
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.
For the complete list of award winners, go to Awards.