FREELAND, MICH. -- Senior Jacob Heller (Fort Wayne, Ind./Prairie Heights) and sophomore Adam Wheaton (Kalamazoo, Mich./Hackett Catholic Prep) represented the Trine University baseball team on the 2019 All-Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Teams as second-team picks for their efforts on the field this season.
Heller earned his third overall All-Conference selection and his second second-team honor (first-team in 2017). In 2019, Heller led the team in multiple statistical categories including batting average (.367), hits (54), at-bats (147), doubles (12) and was tied for the team lead in RBI (25). He was second on the team in runs scored with 26. His season totals also put him in the top-10 in several categories in the MIAA that included batting average (seventh), at-bats (sixth), hits (fourth) and doubles (eighth). Heller posted 17 multi-hit games with a season-best and career-tying high five hit effort against Wittenberg (Ohio) University in March. He also tied a career-high with five RBI in the game against Bridewater (Va.) College early in the season on Mar. 4 in Florida.
Defensively, Heller played primarily at first-base, but also saw playing time at third base. For the season, Heller posted a .981 fielding percentage with 223 putouts, 34 assists and five errors in 39 games.
Heller ends her career as the program's all-time leader in runs scored (120), hits (194) and became the all-time leader in doubles (40) in his final doubleheader of the year against Albion this past weekend. He also ranks second all-time in career at-bats (494), RBI (92) and total bases (247). He had a lifetime batting average of .393 (194-of-494) to rank fourth all-time and also ranks in the program's top-10 in slugging percentage (8th - .500), on-base percentage (4th - .477), games played (8th - 145), games started (6th - 140), walks (4th - 54), hit by pitch (1st - 32), intentional walks (t-4th - 3), stolen bases (6th - 22), stolen base attempts (7th - 29) and putouts (3rd - 798).
Wheaton capped a solid sophomore season on the mound as the team's "ace" with his first All-Conference selection of his career. Wheaton led the starting rotation in every statistical categories that included: wins (four), earned run average (3.09), starts (11), complete games (three), shutouts (one), innings pitched (58.1) and strikeouts (61). He also was tied for the team lead in appearances with 11. His 61 strikeouts this season lead the MIAA and ranked in the top-five in Trine program history. Wheaton recorded seven games with five or more strikeouts, including a season and career-high 12 "K's" against Olivet in mid-April.
In addition to his 61 strikeouts leading the conference, Wheaton's 3.09 ERA ranked as the sixth best and he also ranked in the top-10 in both innings pitched (5th - 58.1) and wins (9th - four).