Patton Tabbed 3B All-SCAC 1st Team after Incredible Season; Stickler All-SCAC Honorable Mention
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – On Thursday, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) announced the 2018 All-Conference Baseball Team. Nathan Patton (McKinney, Texas) highlighted the University of Dallas with an All-SCAC First Team selection for third base. Jordan Stickler (Grand Rapids, Mich.) was tabbed on the All-SCAC Honorable Mention Team.
Both players received conference postseason honors for consecutive years.
Patton, who also was voted the Team MVP, led the offense with top numbers most of the spring. He opened the campaign hitting safely in the first nine games, and followed a hitless performance with a 12-game hit streak. This included a 4-for-5 outing with his only collegiate home runs against regular season conference champion Centenary College.
Patton posted a personal-best .450 batting average to lead the league and checked in this week tied for 20th in NCAA Division III. Patton batted in a team-high 43 runs, which ranks second in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA) and third in the SCAC.
Patton was two hits shy of matching the single-season record with 63 in 38 games started. He only went hitless in four outings, as he closed the year out on a 10-game hitting streak. 21 of those contests were multi-hit games. Of the final 11 games in March after the 12th, all 10 games with a knock were multiple hit displays. Patton is just the 27th player in the program to eclipse 100 hits, and finished two above with two more years of eligibility remaining.
Patton ranked atop the squad with a slash line of .450/.600/.521., doubles (13), and total bases (84). He checked in second for runs scored with 43. His fielding percentage was .944, as he made 106 assists and 28 putouts while committing eight errors.
The defender at the hot corner earned two d3baseball.com Team of the Week recognitions.
Stickler produced another strong season as the catalyst leading off the Crusaders lineup. The junior posted a .512 overall on-base percentage, and .447-clip in conference games. He stole a team-leading 24 bases to raise his career total to 48, which is ranked sixth all-time.
Stickler built off his 31-game streak of reaching base safely via a base knock, walk, or hit by pitch from 2017. The first 26 appearances this spring, the centerfielder extended the stretch to 57. Overall, there were just three games this year that he missed reaching in such fashion. Each from that trio were a top-25 nationally ranked foe, including two at No. 1 Trinity University.
Stickler led the team in runs scored (43), walks (35), and hit by pitches (14). He batted .304, totaled 35 hits (3rd on UD), doubled three times, and smacked his first collegiate home run during opening weekend at Sul Ross State University.
To view the complete 2018 SCAC All-Conference baseball team, click here.