Six members of the St. Peter baseball team, all of them seniors, earned All-Conference recognition from the Big South Conference for their performances this season. Sam Moelter, Tate Olson, Kaeden Guida, Drew Simonette and Nakiye Mercado earned All-Conference awards while Max Brown was named all-conference honorable mention.
Saints head coach Kurt Moelter provided the following excerpts and statistics for each of the players in the section below.
SAM MOELTER (Catcher): Three time all-conference selection. Sam has been our catcher since late in his ninth grade year. He is basically the coach on the field. His baseball IQ is going to be greatly missed next year. He just has an understanding of the game that you rarely see in a high school kid. Sam has always been the leader of the team and does a great job of rallying the entire team. Offensively, Sam did an outstanding job of finding ways to get on base and then using his speed to create problems for other teams. He is a high contact kid who was an ideal leadoff hitter. We are really going to miss his leadership and skill next year and years to come.
.351 Batting Average, 5 Doubles, 11 RBI, 15 Runs, 13 Stolen Bases.
TATE OLSON (P/1B): Two time all-conference selection. We asked a lot of Tate this year and he did exactly what we needed him to do. We needed him to contribute on the mound and also with his bat. Like the others, Tate’s ability to be multi-dimensional was a reason why we had the success we had as a team this spring. Tate is a tough kid to replace because of his ability to pitch and the type of hitter he was.
.244 Batting Average, 5 Doubles, 9 RBI, 11 Runs, 2-2 Pitching record, 3.96 ERA.
KAEDEN GUIDA (P/IF): Three time all-conference selection. KG has been with us since late his 9th grade year. He has been great for us as a two-way player. He showed his ability to hit for power along with his dominance as a pitcher. Defensively, we moved him around and his flexibility really helped us. KG is going to Minnesota State University — Mankato, to pitch and will do great things for them. Anytime you lose a D2 ball player, it’s going to be tough to replace.
.236 Batting Average, 3 Doubles, 3 Homeruns, 14 RBI, 13 Runs, 9 Stolen Bases, 5 — 0 Pitching record, 1.29 ERA, 81 Strikeouts in 54 IP.
DREW SIMONETTE (SS): Two time all-conference selection. Drew was our everyday SS and did great. He is such a dangerous hitter in that he rarely swings at bad pitches. He is a high contact hitter that has some pop in his bat. He was a kid that could consistently put the barrel to the ball. His speed and instincts on the bases generated a lot of runs for us and caused a lot of problems for opposing teams. Drew is one the best SS we have had at SPHS and his overall athleticism is going to be difficult to replace.
.276 Batting Average, 6 Doubles, 1 Triple, 11 RBI, 14 Runs, 15 Stolen Bases.
NAKIYE MERCADO (OF): All-conference selection. Nakiye did a great job anchoring our OF. He was the leader in the outfield on defense. On offense, Nakiye really had a strong second half of the season. He continued to get better and better as the season went. By the end of the year, he was a guy we counted on to get on base, make things happen with his speed and drive in runs. He was a big part of our team’s success this spring. A kid with Nakiye’s speed doesn’t show up every year. He will be sorely missed in our order and in the OF.
.271 Batting Average, 3 Doubles, 1 Triple, 14 RBI, 16 Runs, 16 Stolen Bases.
MAX BROWN (3B/P): Honorable Mention All-conference selection. Max was very steady for us this year, which as a coach is great. We always knew what we were going to get from him: Throw strikes as a pitcher, put the ball in play as a hitter and make the routine play at third base. Max really accepted the role as our “closer” in that we knew if we had a lead late in the game, we could count on Max on the mound. Max earned this award and is a nice recognition to end his HS career.
.232 Batting Average, 4 Doubles, 13 RBI, 13 Runs, 2 Stolen Bases, 1 — 3 Pitching Record ; 2 Saves ; 1.21 ERA.
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