Five Earn Academic All-District® Honors for Baseball

CSC Academic All-District® Release

The College of Wooster's Devin Anthony, Alex Gerdenich, Corey Knauf, Ryan Kramer, and Eli Westrick were among the College Sports Communicators' Academic All-District® honorees for baseball, which were announced on Tuesday.

Anthony went 3-1 with a 6.50 ERA over eight starts this spring. The sophomore right-hander worked 36 innings and struck out 19. Anthony's top outing was six innings of one-run baseball in the opener of a doubleheader at LaGrange College on March 18. Anthony held the traditional national power to five hits over those six innings.

The business economics major has researched how San Francisco is a blueprint for how local businesses can use tactical urbanism to strengthen community cohesion, improve urban spaces, and create a greater flow of business. Anthony interned at Ten10 Designs in his hometown of Chardon, Ohio. There, he was exposed to the basics of marketing, sales, and promotions. Off campus, Anthony has volunteered with Night to Shine prom events.

Gerdenich, a first-team All-North Coast Athletic Conference selection at utility, was Wooster's top relief pitcher this spring. On the mound, Gerdenich went 1-4 with a team-best four saves. He worked 25 1/3 innings and posted a team-leading 3.20 ERA. Gerdenich's fourth save of the season came against NCAC co-champion Wittenberg University in early April. He fired a scoreless inning against the NCAC rival after starting the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored, two walks, and a RBI as the team's right fielder.

The political science major works as a receptionist and assistant facilities manger at Rudolf Steiner Health Center when home in Ann Arbor, Michigan on academic breaks. Gerdenich's research experience includes conducting exit poll surveys in the Wooster community to gather data for research projects regarding local voting trends. Gerdenich gained coaching experience with Michigan Sports Academy in 2023 and works on the statistics crew for home basketball and football games.

Knauf spent two seasons as the ace of Wooster's pitching staff. As a sophomore, Knauf's 15 strikeouts in a complete-game win against Williams College marked the third-highest single-game strikeout total in program history and the program's top individual mark since 1944. As a sophomore, Knauf carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning against Hiram College and finished that win with a one-hit shutout. Knauf won 12 games and finished his Wooster career just shy of 200 career innings.

For his Independent Study (I.S.), the environmental geoscience major determined the extent of how Lena Blackburne baseball rubbing mud is stickier and more effective than other muds. Knauf used x-ray diffraction to analyze the mud, looked at mineral compositions, conducted a peel test to determine stickiness through quantitative research, ran a particle size analysis of different soils, and conducted a spin rate test with the three soils as part of the I.S. project. Elsewhere, the two-time CSC Academic All-District® choice, and classmates, worked with Killbuck Watershed Land Trust to create GIS layers and deed summaries for the company. He gained further field experience in the areas of earth materials, hydrology, and structural geology through laboratory-based courses at Wooster. In the summers, Knauf was an intern at Global Geotechnical Consultants in Virginia where he assisted with soil compaction and concrete testing. Knauf was part of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and served as the co-captain of the statistics crew for basketball and football home games. He was one of the statistics spotters for the Ohio High School Athletic Association state football championships in 2023. Knauf plans to begin his professional career as a geotechnical consultant in Columbus, Ohio.

Kramer earned second-team American Baseball Coaches Association and D3baseball.com All-America honors this spring and was a consensus first-team All-Region 7 performer as voted on by the ABCA and D3baseball.com. Kramer earned first-team All-NCAC honors as a designated hitter this spring. Through games played June 3, Kramer ranks in the top-15 nationally in RBI per game and slugging and in the top-30 nationally in average. The lifetime .387 hitter (107-for-274) debuted in 2023 as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association co-Rookie of the Month, and has since added D3baseball.com Team of the Week and NCAC Athlete of the Week honors to an impressive resume. Kramer logged career-highs in hits (62), RBI (55), runs (43), and home runs (11) as a sophomore and had a 15-game hitting streak span March 12 through April 16. Kramer had 11 multi-hit games during his 15-game hitting streak and went 17-for-34 (.500) with 19 RBI, 14 runs scored, and six home runs in games March 30 through April 13.

The business economics major, who is playing for the Watertown Rapids Baseball Club this summer, is a volunteer with the Montessori School in Wooster and volunteers for the local Night to Shine prom events. He was an instructor for Wooster's free youth clinic, which attracted 60 youth players from the local community. On campus, Kramer is an assistant in the equipment room and works with game operations for varsity athletic events when baseball is out of season. He also has coaching experience with Windy City Baseball's travel program.

Westrick, a D3baseball.com All-American and consensus ABCA and D3baseball.com All-Region second baseman as a junior, was Wooster's starting shortstop as a senior. The three-year starter earned preseason All-America honors and his third All-NCAC certificate as a senior. The career .371 hitter (186-for-502) finished just shy of 75 hits as a junior when he hit a career-best .418 (71-for-170). Westrick scored a career-high 42 runs this spring and drew a career-best 28 walks. He was the ABCA/Rawlings All-Region winner for defense as a second baseman as a junior.

The mathematics major created two models to show how MLB pitchers were affected by the ban of the shift for his I.S. project. He gained data science experience as a statistics intern with the Medford Rogues Baseball Club. The Pi Mu Epsilon honor society member volunteered with Wooster's Montessori School and the Night to Shine prom events. The two-time CSC Academic All-District® honoree was a co-captain of Wooster's statistics crew for home basketball and football games, and like Knauf, worked the OHSAA football state championships as a senior. He has been accepted into a graduate program at Case Western Reserve University and plans to pursue a master's degree in data science.

Each school with a CSC membership may submit up to five Academic All-District® honorees for baseball. Each nominee must have at least a 3.50 GPA, be at least a sophomore in academic standing, and meet one of the four playing criteria. The playing criteria are play in at least 90 percent of games, start at least 66 percent of games, make at least 18 pitching appearances, or pitch at least 25 innings. The CSC Academic All-America® Team for baseball is scheduled to be announced on July 2.