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| Jamie Lackner |
Jamie Lackner, who just wrapped up his junior year at The College of Wooster, was recognized on the American Baseball Coaches Association All-America Team for the second season in a row, collecting second-team honors, the ABCA announced at a banquet Thursday night in conjunction with the finals of the NCAA Div. III Baseball Championships taking place in Appleton, Wis.
Lackner, a first-team selection a year ago, is just the sixth player from the tradition-rich program to take a spot on the ABCA All-America Team in multiple years, with Jake Frank being the last to achieve that feat (2003-05).
Lackner, Wooster's first baseman, finished 2016 batting at a .430 clip, which included 12 doubles and seven home runs, and he drove in 54 runs. Those numbers are all the more impressive, considering the few quality pitches he saw, as the 6-4, 245-pound clean-up hitter was walked an NCAA Div. III-high 44 times. He also reached base 12 other times via hit by pitches, part of a .560 on-base percentage.
Safely reaching base became an art form for Lackner, as he got either a hit, walk, or hit by pitch in each of the Fighting Scots' first 49 games this season before the streak was halted in their last outing. Adding in last year's perfect run of 45 games, he shattered the Div. III record with 94 consecutive games reaching base safely (the previous mark was 60).
The bigger the game, the better Lackner was. He was the North Coast Athletic Conference Tournament MVP after hitting .625 (10-for-16) with a double, two homers, eight RBI, and nine walks (.760 on-base percentage) and leading Wooster to its first conference championship since 2013, and he landed on the all-tourney team at the NCAA Div. III Mideast Regional where he batted .526 (10-for-19) with a home run and seven RBI. Also notable, in the 14 games that the Scots played against teams that were part of the NCAA Div. III Championships field, Lackner hit an even .500 (26-for-52) with six doubles, two homers, and 16 RBI.
Through three seasons, Lackner's career numbers include a .417 batting average, 118 runs scored, 160 hits, 32 doubles, 25 home runs, 135 RBI, a .701 slugging percentage, 77 walks, 32 hit by pitches, and a .540 on-base percentage, which puts him within striking distance of finishing among the top-10 in the Scots' record book in all of those categories.