Chilicki, Nemunaitis, Rodriguez Earn All-America Awards

SPRINGFIELD, OH - For the first time in 34 years, Wittenberg Baseball is represented again on the All-America honor roll.

After leading the Tigers to 31 wins, runner-up finishes in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular season and tournament, and an NCAA Division III Tournament berth for the first time since 1994, three Tigers were recognized with All-America awards. Senior second baseman Tommy Chilicki (Lewis Center, OH / Olentangy) was named to the first team by D3baseball.com and the fourth team by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), senior third baseman Alex Nemunaitis (Perrysburg, OH / Ottawa Hills) was selected to the fourth team by D3baseball.com and the second team by the ABCA, and junior first baseman Xander Rodriguez (Salinas, PR / Franklin County) garnered fourth team from D3baseball.com and third team from the ABCA.

Their selections represent the first time in program history that Wittenberg has had players selected to the All-America team organized by D3baseball.com, which has been in existence since 2007. The last time a Wittenberg baseball player earned a spot on the ABCA All-America team was 1992, when Jeff Brown was named to the first team. A total of nine Wittenberg players earned ABCA All-America awards between 1965 and 1992.

Chilicki previously earned first-team All-NCAC and first-team All-Region VII after ranking seventh in all of NCAA Division III with 81 hits. That hit total is tied for the lead among his counterparts also selected on the D3baseball.com first team. He set a program record 18 doubles this season, which tied him for the team lead and ranks tied for fourth among the D3Baseball.com first team selections.

Rodriguez earned his spot after a historic season at the plate. He set new program records for home runs in a season (15), RBIs in a season (73), tied the program record for doubles in a season with 18 and moved into second place in career RBIs (160). Rodriguez ranked sixth in all of NCAA Division III with 73 RBIs. Among the rest of the players on the D3baseball.com All-America fourth team, he is first in RBIs, tied for first in home runs, second in doubles, second in total bases (only behind Nemunaitis) and third in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS).

Nemunaitis broke the program career record for career and season hit by pitches, totaling 58 and 22, respectively. He led the team in batting average (.451), runs (64), hits (82), and total bases (132). He ranked sixth in NCAA Division III with his school-record 82 hits. Out of the players named to the D3baseball.com fourth team, Nemunaitis’ ranks first in hits, total bases and OPS (1.257), second in batting average, and third in runs.