Bucs make NCAA tourney, lose two heartbreakers
Beloit’s 2023 baseball team ends a season for the record books.
Beloit’s baseball team may have fallen to Spalding University in a 4-3 nail-biting, 12-inning game at the NCAA Division-III Regional Tournament in late May, but left the field with heads held high.
The Bucs clinched the Midwest Conference title for the first time in seven years and the third time in program history, ending the season after shattering records left, right, and center (field).
The Bucs set a school record for single-season victories with 31 wins and broke the Midwest Conference record of 20 conference wins in a single season. The Beloit sluggers broke records for runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, extra base hits, total bases, RBIs, and fielding percentage.
With a team full of superstar players, few shone brighter than Garrison Ferone’22, Brett Kiger’23, and Matt O’Leary’23.
Garrison Ferone’22
Shortstop Ferone broke the hit record of 205 held by Mike Kovach’11, becoming the college’s “Hit King.”
Brett Kiger’23
Senior second baseman O’Leary shattered another of Kovach’s records with a whopping 64 runs this season and broke a school record of 43 walks, ranking him sixth and seventh, respectively, in all of D-III.
O’Leary was also recently selected as Midwest Conference Player of the Year, received Academic All-District Honors, and made the First Team All-Conference.
Matt O’Leary’23
Designated hitter Kiger was named All-Midwest Conference, All-Region, All-America, and Academic All-District and was recently voted a Second Team selection for the Division-III Baseball Academic All-America team, an honor determined by success on the field and in the classroom.
He’s one of two players in the Midwest Conference to join an Academic All-America team this season and only the second Beloiter in program history to do so, the first since 1992.
