ANGOLA, IND. -- Trine University senior baseball player Kevin O'Malley (Commerce Twp., Mich./Walled Lake Central) and junior Jacob Heller (Fort Wayne, Ind./Prairie Heights) were both selected to the All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Teams for their individual efforts this season.
O'Malley garnered first-team All-MIAA accolades and Heller was selected to the second-team.
O'Malley started all 39 games he played in this season and was second on the team in batting average at .397 with 56 hits (56-of-141). His 56 hits also ranked second on the team. He led the team in runs batted in (RBI) with 33, in addition to hitting one home run, two triples, 10 doubles and scored 21 runs. O'Malley had 18 multi-hit games with a season and career-high four hits three times and had 11 games with multiple RBI. In addition, he scored a single-game high of four runs in a win against PSU-Altoona early in the season.
In the conference, O'Malley currently ranks fourth in hits (56) and third in RBI (33). He also ranks in the top-10 in triples (10th) and seventh in total bases with 73.
Defensively, O'Malley had a .974 fielding percentage with 232 putouts and 30 assists as the team's starting catcher. He was also responsible for throwing out 15 potential base stealers which rank as the second most in the MIAA.
For his career, O'Malley played in 103 games and made 88 starts. He finishes with a .337 lifetime batting average (104-of-309) to go along with a pair of home runs, two triples, 17 doubles, scored 44 runs and drove in 56 runs. As a catcher, O'Malley threw out 34 base stealers which rank as the third most all-time in program history.
Heller capped a standout season with his first All-Conference selection after leading the team in batting average at .444 with 60 hits in 135 at-bats. His .444 average was also the best in the MIAA. Heller also led the team in doubles (12), runs scored (36), on-base percentage (.513), slugging percentage (.556), was tied for the team lead in stolen bases (six) and was second in RBI (29). Heller recorded 18 games with multiple hits that included three games with a season and career-tying high four hits. He also posted 11 games with two or more RBI and scored a career-best four runs in a win against PSU-Altoona.
In addition to leading the conference in batting average, Heller ranked in the top-10 in several other statistical categories including plate appearances (165 - 8th), runs (36 - 4th), doubles (12 - 3rd), RBI (29 - 9th), total bases (75 - 5th), on-base percentage (.512 - 2nd) and slugging percentage (.556 - 4th).
Heller already ranks in the top-10 in the Trine record books in several categories that includes batting average (.403 - 3rd), slugging percentage (.522 - 6th), on-base percentage (.490 - 1st), runs scored (94 - 5th), hits (140 - 9th), doubles (28 - t-4th) and RBI (67 - 10th).
As a team, the Thunder finished one win shy of the 20-win plateau (19-21 overall) that included a four-game sweep against Hope (Mich.) College, marking the first time in program history Trine has won four straight against the Flying Dutchmen. Trine also recorded a fourth-straight season with 15 or more victories.