It was recently announced by D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) that three University of Redlands baseball standouts made both lists for All-Region honors in a stellar repeat effort. In addition to earning a spot on each of the First Teams, junior Felix Minjarez (Riverside, CA) was tabbed the D3baseball.com West Region Pitcher of the Year and ABCA/Rawlings West Region Pitcher of the Year. Junior catcher Rainier Aguilar (San Bernardino, CA) grabbed a spot on each entity's Second Team, while sophomore shortstop Aaron Singh (Anaheim, CA) was named to each of the Third Teams.
D3baseball.com selects the All-Region teams from a pool of 800 players nominated. The ballot is then made available to SIDs, who vote for a predetermined number of players in their region, as well as D3baseball.com staff and contributors. The ABCA/Rawlings All-Region teams are voted on by members of the American Baseball Coaches Association and the process is led by the ABCA NCAA Div. III All-America Committee.
This honor comes as the inaugural award for all three Bulldog student-athletes. Redlands is one of five Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) schools that accounted for 12 individuals who were named to both All-Region teams. The SCIAC is also well represented in the top honors, as Minjarez was named Pitcher of the Year and Pomona-Pitzer College's Tanner Nishioka was named the Player of the Year in both selections.
Minjarez was named the D3baseball.com and ABCA/Rawlings Pitcher of the Year just a week after being chosen as the SCIAC Pitcher of the Year. He was a major contributor to the team's third-consecutive SCIAC Postseason Tournament appearance and currently co-leads all of NCAA Division III baseball with 12 wins and ranks sixth with 105 strikeouts on the season. Minjarez sits atop the team in innings pitched (94), strikeouts per nine innings among the starters (10.05), while also recording the lowest ERA (2.30).
Aguilar hauls in his inaugural All-West Region awards with this year's spots on the Second Team. He ranks 32nd in all of Division III baseball with a .424 batting average and sits 44th with a .500 on-base percentage. Defensively, Aguilar holds a perfect fielding percentage as the primary starting catcher for the Maroon and Gray. This recognition follows a First-Team All-Conference nod and Redlands' only SCIAC Baseball Athlete of the Week this season.
Singh landed on the All-Region Third Teams for an impressive achievement in his young career. He also hauled in his inaugural All-Conference award earlier this year as the Bulldogs' starting shortstop. After establishing himself as a trusty middle infielder, Singh ranks first on the team with 118 assists to go along with 53 putouts for a solid fielding percentage of .950. Offensively, Singh ranks second on the team with 15 extra-base hits, 12 doubles, and two home runs, and sits third with 10 stolen bases. Singh has knocked 43 hits en route to 23 RBI for an impressive line of .364 BA/.480 OBP/.534 SLG.
To see the complete lists of All-West Region honorees, please visit the D3baseball.com and the ABCA/Rawlings respective websites.