2022 D2CCA Baseball All-America Teams
A special season for a Hillsdale College baseball star earned extremely rare recognition at the NCAA DII level on Wednesday afternoon.
Already a unanimous All-Midwest Region shortstop for the 2022 season to the Division II Conference Commissioners Association, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the American Baseball Coaches Association, sophomore Aidan Brewer became just the fifth Hillsdale College baseball player in program history to receive NCAA Division II All-American honors.
The D2CCA recognized Brewer as a third-team All-American at shortstop, tabbing him as one of the top three players in the country at the DII level at his position, in a release issued on Wednesday.
He's just the third Hillsdale player to receive All-American honors from the D2CCA, joining first-teamer Luke Ortel (2016) and honorable mention Steven Ring (2017), and just the fifth DII All-American of any kind for the Charger program, along with Ring, Ortel, Chris McDonald (2016) and Ethan Wiskur (2017).
Brewer had an offensive season for the ages in 2022 at Hillsdale that propelled him to join an elite club of Charger All-Americans, leading the G-MAC in the regular season in batting average (.435), on-base percentage (.500), total hits (81) and doubles (19), while also finishing third in OPS (1.226), fourth in RBIs (50), sixth in runs scored (50), seventh in slugging percentage (.726), eighth in home runs (11) and ninth in stolen bases. He also finished the regular season in the top 15 in the nation among NCAA DII players in batting average, total hits and on-base percentage as well.
The sophomore really stood out in conference play, leading the G-MAC in batting average (.468), on-base percentage (.529) and hits (58) as well while ranking in the top 10 in every relevant offensive category except for triples.
Defensively, he showed impressive range for a shortstop, playing a role in 32 double plays, the most by a Charger field player since 2007 and one of the top numbers in the country in 2022.
Brewer's monster season has him in rarefied air in Hillsdale College history, ranking in the top 10 in seven single-season categories. He's third in hits (81), sixth in batting average (.435), sixth in runs scored (50), seventh in slugging percentage (.726), second in doubles (19), seventh in RBIs (50) and tied for 10th in home runs (11). His 23 career home runs are also tied for fourth all-time at Hillsdale, just one behind third place.
Along with All-American and All-Region honors, Brewer was named first-team All-G-MAC as well, earning conference recognition for the second consecutive season.
More recognition might be on the way for Brewer, as the NCBWA and ABCA have yet to announce their DII All-American teams for 2022, and should do so in the next 10 days.
Brewer is currently playing in the Northwoods League over the summer, and will return to Hillsdale in the fall, looking to prepare for an even more impressive encore season and to help the Chargers contend for what would be the program's first regular season conference title in the modern era in 2023.
Photo by Anthony Lupi