Baseball lands seven on Academic All-OAC list
By Caleb Scott
ADA — The Ohio Northern baseball team saw seven athletes recognized on the spring Academic All-Ohio Athletic Conference list, released on Tuesday morning.
The award winners must be a sophomore or higher in class standing, maintain varsity status and have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.50.
Senior Brandon Kasberg (Mentor), juniors Austin Frey (Peoria, Az./Sunrise Mountain), Caleb Thomas (Strongsville), Blake Lester (Chesepeake), and Jackson Buda (Norton), and sophomores Scott Beaton (Novi, Mich.) and Tommy Vlasek (Richfield/Revere) all earned the honor.
Kasberg, a Pharmacy major, earned the honor for the third time in his career.
The senior All-Conference shortstop appeared in and started all 42 games for ONU this season.
Kasberg has appeared in 152 career games for Northern and is tied for 17th all-time at Northern with 149 career hits.
His 506 career at bats rank eighth all-time in program history. Brandon added a career-best 46 for ONU this season and scored a career-high 31 runs.
Frey, a Mechanical Engineering major, is now a 2-time Academic All-OAC honoree.
The junior pitcher led the team and was tied for fourth in the OAC with seven victories on the mound for ONU. His seven victories this season are tied for the most by an ONU pitcher since 2010.
Frey was named Second Team All-OAC for his efforts this season. He ranked second on the pitching staff with 44 K's this season.
Thomas, a Mechanical Engineering major, earned his second Academic All-OAC honor.
The junior was also named CoSIDA First Team Google Cloud Academic All-District 7 this season and advanced to the Academic All-America ballot as a first team member.
Thomas ranked third on the team with a career-high 48 hits and a career-high 12 doubles this season. His 38 RBI led the team.
Lester, a Civil Engineering major, earned the honor for the first time in his career.
The junior pitcher appeared in eight games this season with four starts. He posted his first career victory on the mound in a 2-0 victory over OAC-foe Baldwin Wallace on Apr. 10.
He added 12 strikeouts on the mound for Northern.
Buda, a Management major, earned his second career Academic All-OAC nod.
The junior went 1-0 this season with a 1.86 ERA in seven appearances.
Buda added a career-best eight strikeouts this season.
Beaton, a Sport Management major, earned his first career Academic All-OAC honor.
The sophomore had a breakout season, setting the school record for most appearances on the mound in a single season (23).
Beaton ranked second on the team and third in the OAC with a 2.34 ERA this season.
He posted a 2-3 record on the bump and added two saves for ONU in a career-high 42.1 innings of work. He also added 29 strikeouts for ONU.
Vlasek, a Risk Management and Insurance major, also earned his first career Academic All-OAC nod.
The sophomore appeared in one game this season with one at bat for ONU.
Northern finished the season with a 27-15 record and made its first OAC Tournament appearance since 2000 under seventh-year head coach Gene Stechschulte.