Baseball | 6/4/2024 11:45:00 AM
Utah Tech placed five student-athletes on to the 2023-24 College Sports Communicators Division I Academic All-District® Baseball team, which was announced on Tuesday.
Among the 647 total honorees on the Division I team list are senior catcher
Hank Dodson, junior outfielder
Hunter Katschke, and junior pitchers
Carston Herman,
Ky Decker and
Matt Nelson.
The 2023-24 Academic All-District® Baseball Teams, selected by College Sports Communicators, recognize the nation's top student-athletes for their combined performances on the diamond and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA. Academic All-District® honorees advance to the CSC Academic All-America® ballot. First-, second and third-team Academic All-America® honorees will be announced July 2.
Dodson (3.60 GPA), who graduated with his Bachelor's degree in Accounting last month, enjoyed a banner senior season, during which he batted .276 with career highs in hits (55), doubles (13), triples (1), home runs (7), RBI (26) and runs scored (30).
The senior backstop also broke Utah Tech's single season record for starts, as he was penciled into the Trailblazers' starting line-up in 55 of the 56 games played this past season. In addition, his 55 games played also tied the program's single season record.
Dodson was a defensive stalwart behind the plate, closing his four years with a career .9936 fielding percentage, having only committed four errors in 621 total chances.
Katschke (3.63 GPA – criminal justice major) garnered second team all-WAC honors as the Trailblazers' top hitter this past season. He batted a team-high .302, and led Utah Tech in base hits (58), extra-base hits (25), home runs (13), RBI (36) and runs scored (38).
The junior outfielder also paced the team with a .568 slugging percentage, while he finished third in doubles (12), and was fourth among everyday starters with a .372 on-base percentage.
Katschke, who hit .313 in WAC play, started in 52 of 54 games played this season, during which he hit safely in 36 of those contests, highlighted by a team best 13-game hit streak midway through the campaign.
He also became just the third Trailblazer in the program's brief NCAA Division I era to homer three times in one game, doing so in Utah Tech's home win over Utah on May 7, against which he drove in a season-high five runs.
Katschke's 13 homers on the year are the fourth-most on Utah Tech's single season list, and ranked him t-eighth in the WAC.
Herman (3.74 GPA – business management major) collected two of his three wins on the season over his final five starts, highlighted by tossing seven shutout innings with a career-high eight strikeouts in a 2-1 road triumph at Grand Canyon back on April 21.
The junior southpaw, who carried a sub-3.00 ERA over his final five appearances of the year and led the Blazer staff with 51 total strikeouts, also fanned five in seven solid innings to earn the decision on the road at Cal Poly (5/11) last month.
Decker (3.77 GPA – marketing major) made 19 appearances with 11 starts in his first season with the Trailblazers and finished with 36 strikeouts in 55 innings of work. He earned his first decision on the season in a road win at Seattle U (3/23), against which he struck out five in 6.0 innings. Decker also picked up a win out of the bullpen vs. California Baptist (5/17) after he punched out four in 2.2 innings of relief.
Nelson (3.59 GPA – communication major) appeared in 20 games with two starts this past season and finished with a 2-1 record and 20 strikeouts in 35.0 innings. The junior recorded his first win in a series clinching victory vs. Sacramento State (3/17), and later in the year struck out a season-high five in four innings of one-hit relief to earn the decision in a home win over Utah (5/7) last month.
