Four members of Northern Kentucky’s baseball squad earned All-Horizon League First Team distinction. NKU tied regular-season champion UIC for the most first-team honorees, as TJ Alas, Trey Ganns, Jake Richmond and Chad Roberts all earned distinction.
Alas made an immediate impact during his single season as a Norse, batting .325 and slugging .651 in League play during his 30 starts in the outfield. The senior led the Horizon League slate in home runs (11), while ranking second in RBI (34), third in runs scored (29) and total bases (82), fourth in slugging percentage and seventh in hits (41). The senior ended the regular season riding a 16-game hitting streak and reached base in 46-straight contests. Defensively, the right fielder was one of just five players in the League to finish the season without committing an error.
A three-time Horizon League Batter of the Week this year, Ganns earns first-team accolades for the first time in his career after being named to the second team a season ago. The first baseman/LHP is ranked in nearly every offensive category, leading the League in home runs (11), RBI (35), total bases (90) and slugging percentage (.763) while ranking third in runs scored (29), doubles (12) and on-base percentage (.445). He also ranked fifth in batting average (.364), sixth in hits (43) and seventh in walks (17). Ganns recently made his way into the NKU record books, as his 55 RBI are good for sixth on the single season all-time list.
Playing his first season as a Norse, Richmond was honored as one of the League’s top outfielders. The junior is one run away from cracking NKU’s single season all-time list as he leads the Horizon League after crossing the plate 51 times, including a League-best 32 times among League opponents. Richmond boasted a .336 batting average to rank eighth, leading off for the Norse in all 30 League contests with 44 hits to rank second among League players. Richmond also did his part in driving in runs, as his 24 RBI were good for seventh in the League. Like Alas and Ganns, he also stands near the top of the pack in home runs, with eight on the season.
Roberts earned the first distinction of his NKU career as the First Team’s designated hitter. The junior, who appeared in 18 games as NKU’s DH while also playing eight games at first base, batted .284 and had a .529 slugging percentage in League games. Roberts registered 29 hits, including eight doubles and five home runs, to drive in 20 runs and score 20 of his own. In two games, Roberts drove in four runs, including his most recent outing at Oakland that featured a three-run homer to help NKU sweep the series against the Golden Grizzlies.
NKU begins the postseason Wednesday with the first round of the Horizon League Championship in Chicago. The Norse earned the No. 3 seed and will play No. 6-seeded Milwaukee at 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 24. All games of the tournament will be broadcast on ESPN3, with streaming available on computers, tablets and smart phones through WatchESPN or the ESPN App.