GRINNELL, Iowa – The Illinois College baseball team was well represented in the Midwest Conference postseason awards, as seven Blueboys earned All-Conference honors, the league announced on Thursday.
Illinois College placed four players on the First Team All-Conference squad with Ketch Mills, Tyler Barker, Nathan Walker, and Logan Fleener all earning recognition. Nicholas Muskopf, Chase Schrader, and Anthony Buonaura were named to the Second Team All-Conference team.
Mills, a sophomore from Hillsboro, Illinois, put together one of the best offensive seasons in program history. He finished the year batting .386 while rewriting the Illinois College record book. Mills became the program's single-season record holder for both hits with 73 and RBIs with 74, surpassing the previous RBI record by 20. His 74 RBIs rank second nationally while also setting a new Midwest Conference single-season record. Mills added 17 doubles and 12 home runs, ranking second all-time in doubles in a season while tying the program's single-season home run record. He also scored 56 runs, the second-highest total in school history.
Barker, a senior from Payson, Illinois, joined the program's .400 batting average club after hitting .412 during his final season in Jacksonville. Barker etched his name into the record book by setting both the single-season walk record with 41 and the career walk record with 77. He totaled 16 doubles on the year, ranking third all-time in single-season history, while posting a team-best .537 on-base percentage.
Walker, a senior from Foley, Missouri, also joined the .400 batting average club with a .402 average on the season. Walker collected 72 hits with 13 doubles, three triples, and four home runs. He finished second all-time in single-season hits at Illinois College while also ranking third in runs scored in a season.
Fleener, a junior from Louisville, Illinois, earned first-team recognition after a standout season both offensively and defensively. Fleener hit .408 in conference play, the fifth-best mark in the league, while totaling 14 extra-base hits and 13 stolen bases on the year. Defensively, he posted a .975 fielding percentage in center field with just two errors all season.
Muskopf, a junior from Millstadt, Illinois, made an immediate impact in his first season with the Blueboys. He finished the year with five triples, tying the Illinois College single-season record, while also adding 16 doubles and six home runs.
Schrader, a junior from Columbia, Illinois, was one of two Blueboy pitchers to earn all-conference honors. He posted a team-best 3.06 ERA in conference play while compiling a 3-1 record. Schrader allowed just six earned runs across 17.2 innings while striking out 13 batters and surrendering only three extra-base hits.
Buonaura rounded out the Illinois College selections after serving as one of the top arms in the Blueboys rotation throughout the season. The junior from Farina, Illinois finished conference play with a perfect 5-0 record across six starts and 33 innings pitched. Buonaura struck out a team-high 30 batters during conference action and matched teammate Dawson Vernier for the program record for starts in a season with 12.
The Blueboys wrapped up one of the finest seasons in program history with a school-record 26 wins, surpassing the previous mark of 22 set in both 1995 and last season. Illinois College finished second in the Midwest Conference regular season standings before advancing to the championship series of the Midwest Conference Tournament last weekend.
