BELOIT — After enjoying one of the most successful seasons in Midwest Conference baseball history in 2023, league coaches expect the Beloit College Buccaneers to be right on top again this spring.
Beloit received six first-place votes and 62 points to finish first in the 2024 MWC preseason coaches’ poll recently.
Last season, Beloit went 20-4 in MWC play (31-14 overall) to win its program’s third regular-season championship and second tournament title. The Bucs also made their third appearance in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.
Dave DeGeorge was MWC Coach of the Year in 2023. He returns seven all-conference players: 2023 Position Player of the Year Matt O’Leary, Brett Kiger, Harvey Pena, Aiden Phipps, Miles Souza, Connor Vogel and Evan Zenger.
“It’s huge having them back,” said DeGeorge, in his 34th season. “I think on paper we’re better than we were last year. But baseball can be a fickle sport. After the seasons players had last year, we’re going to have to work extremely hard on expectations and focus on the things we can control, like our preparation, our behavior, how we treat our teammates and how we deal with adversity.”
Second baseman O’Leary broke both the school and MWC record for runs scored in a single season (64). He also broke the single-season record for walks (43). He ranked in the top 10 in the MWC in batting average at .384, hits (63), doubles (13), triples (3), home runs (8), RBI (41), slugging percentage (.646), one-base percentage (.519) and OPS (1.165). The team’s career leader in batting average (.393), O’Leary started every game in 2023 and stole eight bases in nine tries.
In conference play only, O’Leary hit .412 with a .741 slugging percentage, .567 on-base percentage, and batting in 28 runs. He led the league in walks (30) and finished second in runs scored (39).
Even with O’Leary and his experienced pals back, DeGeorge has good reason for not taking anything for granted about the 2024 season. If there’s been a constant in MWC baseball it’s been a new champion every spring.
The Bucs may have just the roster to put that to the test, though. They benefited from the extra season of eligibility that athletes received from the NCAA due to the impact of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. Due to the extra year, the Bucs welcome back four “super seniors” in O’Leary, Kiger, Zenger as well as pitcher Kaiya Nishino.
The Bucs did lose their career hits leader, shortstop Garrison Ferone, but O’Leary will shift to his spot and they seem to have the bats to continue putting up impressive offensive numbers.
The Red Hawks of Ripon College picked up 50 points and one first-place vote to claim second place in the poll.
In third place, the University of Chicago received 44 points, ahead of Lawrence University in fourth with 43 points and Grinnell College in fifth with 42 points. The Vikings and Pioneers each earned a first-place vote.
The poll rounds out with Cornell College in sixth place (29), followed by Illinois College (27), Monmouth College (19), and Knox College (8).
The 2024 MWC Baseball Tournament is scheduled for May 10-11. The top four teams in the final standings will qualify and compete in a double-elimination format to determine the tournament champion and recipient of the league’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament.
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