Baseball Pitching in NCAA DII-As of May 30
As expected, local high schools provide a lot of pitchers for the local DII school, and beyond. There 229 on DII rosters. Come see who they are and what they are up to.
This series of articles will review NCAA DI, DII, and DIII Baseball and Softball. Included are all of those playing who graduated from a Missouri or Kansas high school. If you missed the first parts of the series, you can find them here:
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There are 229 area pitchers from 150 area high schools on DII rosters. Three quarters of them have found their way from the bullpen to the mound for their college team. Schools such as Emporia State, Northwest Missouri State, and Washburn in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Drury, Rockhurst and Truman State in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. But some have traveled further to Embry-Riddle University in the Sunshine State Conference and to Wisconsin-Parkside in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
I focused on those with 25 or more innings pitched. I also focused on those with fewer innings because they pitch in relief. These numbers are through May 30. You will see the complete data in 26 categories for all 229 pitchers on the spreadsheet linked below.
Max Spitzmiller (Pattonville/Northwest Missouri State) leads all pitchers on this list with 80.0 innings pitched. That is the most in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA). Not far behind is Casey Steward (Wichita East/Washburn Univ.) with 73.2 innings of work on the mound. Cody Bahl (Lee’s Summit West/Drury Univ.) has the most innings pitched in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) with 68.1.The freshman with the most innings pitched is Sawyer Allen (Platte County/Rockhurst Univ.) with 65.1 innings pitched.
The three lowest ERA’s are produced by sophomores. JD McReynolds (Sullivan/Univ. of Central Missouri) at .67, Cody Bahl (Lee’s Summit West/Drury Univ.) at 2.77, and Parker Weddle (Oak Park/Pittsburg State Univ.) with an ERA of 3.33. Both JD McReynolds and Parker Weddle would lead the MIAA if they had the minimum innings pitched to be listed. That isn’t an issue with Cody Bahl. As noted above, he leads the GLVC in innings pitched. And his ERA is the second best in the conference. The lowest ERA by a freshman is Isaac Epp (Maize South/Truman State Univ.) with an ERA of 3.44 in 49.2 innings on the mound.
There are a number of ways to limit the opponent’s batters. One is to not let them hit. Easily the lowest Opposing Batting Average is by JD McReynolds (Sullivan/Univ. of Central Missouri). But as with his ERA, he would lead the MIAA if he had more innings pitched. Ryan Carmack (New Covenant Academy/Univ of Illinois-Springfield) has the second lowest Opposing Batting Average in this group, and also in the GLVC. The lowest Opposing Batting Average by a freshman is Brock Toney (Liberty/Univ. of Central Missouri) at .259.
The Nolan Ryan category is led by Casey Steward (Wichita East/Washburn Univ.) with 100 strikeouts. That number also leads the MIAA and is 5th in all of NCAA Division II. Zac Shoemaker (Aurora/Pittsburg State Univ.) is second on both this list and in the MIAA. His 94 K’s is the 10th most in the NCAA Division II. Ryan Carmack (New Covenant Academy/Univ. of Illinois-Springfield) leads the GLVC with 93 strike outs. Sawyer Allen (Platte County/Rockhurst Univ.) leads all freshmen from this area with 62 strikeouts.
Zac Shoemaker (Aurora/Pittsburg State Univ.) not only leads in K’s, but in K’s to walks, with 9.40 strikeouts for every walk. The leading freshman is Sawyer Allen (Platte County/Rockhurst Univ.) with a ratio of 3.65.
There is a three way tie for the area lead in DII wins. Zac Shoemaker (Aurora/Pittsburg State Univ.), Chandler Ashby (Park Hill/William Jewell College), and Connor Wolf (Tipton/Univ. of Central Missouri) each have 8 wins. Chandler leads the GLVC, while Zac and Connor are tied for 2nd in the MIAA. The leading freshman, once again, is Sawyer Allen (Platte County/Rockhurst Univ.) with 4 wins so far in his first collegiate season.
Dylan Wobbe (St. Elizabeth/Univ. of Missouri-St. Louis) leads the area pitchers in saves with 6. That also leads the GLVC. Ben Prywitch (Parkway Central/Maryville Univ.) also has 6 saves. Caden Wanless (Liberty North/William Jewell College) is the freshman with the most saves, with 3.
Attached below is the spreadsheet detailing 26 statistical categories for each of the 229 NCAA DII baseball pitchers from Missouri and Kansas high schools. The athletes are listed by Innings Pitched. But first, you need to get your free subscription so you won’t miss the great forthcoming content. And refer this to a friend! I thank you!
