Below is our recap of HBCU Baseball players who received national recognition for their play on the diamond during this past 2022 season.
North Carolina A&T catcher Canyon Brown was named to the Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American Team. Brown led his team in triples (3), runs batted in (36) and slugging percentage (.469). He had 14 multi-hit games and was a three-time conference rookie of the week.
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Grambling State’s Shemar Page earned ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I South All-Region honors and the National Collegiate Baseball Writer Associations (NCBWA) second team All-America list. Page earned first team honors after being named the 2022 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Pitcher of the Year. Page, a two-way utility player posted an 8-5 record, 2.60 earned run average, with 143 strikeouts. At the plate he batted .351 with 28 runs batted in, nine doubles, six triples and three home runs.
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John Garcia earned ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I South All-Region honors on the second team. In 53 game this past season, Garcia batted .409, with 18 doubles, 10 home runs, and 67 runs batted in. Behind the plate, Garcia threw out 18 runners attempting to steal a base.
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Delaware State’s Trey Paige, Black College Nines’ large school Player of the Year, was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings NCAA Division I East All-Region Second Team. This past season Page batted batting .412, with 15 doubles, 13 home runs and 43 runs batted in. Page was the MEAC first ever triple crown winner. He was seventh in the country in slugging percentage .791, and eighth in the nation in on-base percentage .513.
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Coppin State’s Jordan Hamberg received Third Team All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). A two way utility player, Hamburg was a finalist for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year. He also earned ABCA Second Team All-Region. Hamberg hit.347 with 10 doubles, 2 triple, 8 home runs, and 34 runs batted in. On the hill, Hamberg was 6-3 with a 5.15 earned run average while striking out a school-record 87 batters in 64.2 innings of work.
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Benedict College’s Bradon O’Connor earned All-Region honor, as he was named to the 2022 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) All-South Region team and named to ABCA/Rawlings South All-Region Team. O’Connor was also named SIAC Utility Player of the Year, the Conference Commissioner’s Association All-South Region team, and Black College Nines’ Small School Division All-Elite Team and Player of the Year. O’Connor ranked second in NCAA Division II in batting average, hitting .454. He ranked sixth in the nation with an on-base percentage of .551. He broke the NCAA Division II single-season stolen base record with 97 total stolen bases out of 105 attempts. He also ranked 22nd in the country in toughest to strike out and 23rd in hits per game. Hit 10 double, 3 triples, 1 home run, 51 runs batted in and 97 stolen bases.