A trio of Kent State Tuscarawas baseball players have finished among the best hitters in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). After final regular season stats were compiled Austin Black, Blaze Clark and Kade Rainsberg all ranked in the Top 10 in batting average.
Black, ranked third in the USCAA in batting average and came on late in the season to spark a key win over Geneva College and was responsible for knocking in several runs in a late season 6-4 loss. His final batting average was .517 and he was 12/17 over the last six games of the season, including a 4/6, three RBI performance at Geneva. He led also led the Golden Eagles in on-base-percentage with a .611 mark, while his slugging percentage was .552.
As a freshman, Clark ranked fourth in batting with an average of .514 and missed several games with a hamstring injury he suffered against OU Zanesville. He was a perfect 2/2 vs. OUZ and was on his way to second base after smacking his second double of the game and literally crawled and hopped his way safely to the bag after pulling up lame. He led the team in doubles with five, homeruns with three and also in RBIs with 15. Clark also led the USCAA in slugging percentage hitting at a .892 clip and had a .548 on-base-percentage.
A stalwart junior, Rainsberg, has been the number two pitcher in the rotation and is a very capable hitter as well. He finished with a batting average of .486, which placed him 6th in the USCAA. He had the second highest on-base-percentage for the Navy and Gold at .581. His ability to get on base helped his own cause on the mound, as during the last seven games of the season he went 13/20 at the plate and scored 11 runs and knocked in five runs.
The Golden Eagles experienced 12 weather cancellations during the spring season, but ended on the positive side of the ledger with a final record of 8-6.
As a pitcher, Kade Rainsberg helped himself out in the field and at the plate.
Blaze Clark led the nation in slugging percentage.