WASHINGTON, Pa. – A total of four Washington & Jefferson College baseball players represented the Presidents on the 2024 All-Region Baseball Teams released Tuesday by D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings.
Leading the way was junior outfielder
Scout Zaas (Powell, Ohio/Wellington School) who earned First Team honors from both organizations.
Junior shortstop
Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) collected First Team from the ABCA and Second Team from D3baseball.com.
Junior designated hitter
Drew Garth (Glenshaw, Pa./North Hills) was listed on the Second Team by both D3baseball and ABCA.
Senior first baseman
Nolan Lutz (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) picked up Third Team honors from the ABCA for a second-straight season.
Zaas ranks 30th in D-III with a .433 batting average. Zaas finished as the conference leader in average, slugging percentage (.681), on-base percentage (.506) and OPS (1.187). He ranked second in home runs (8), third in RBI (43) and third in total bases (96).
Zaas had 17 multi-hit games this season including eight games with three hits or more. Zaas had a two-hit performance which included a home run in the season opener at nationally-ranked Baldwin Wallace on Feb. 10. He previously earned himself a spot on the PAC All-Tournament Team and All-PAC First Team.
LaDuca, the PAC Tournament Most Outstanding Player and the PAC Player of the Year, picked up All-Region honors for the first time.
A three-time All-PAC selection, LaDuca batted .366 while leading the conference with 59 runs scored and ranking second with 68 hits. LaDuca slugged four home runs, 12 doubles, two triples, drove in 31 runs and stole 21 bases, which ranked fourth in the conference. His fielding was also top-notch again, as LaDuca committed just seven errors in 241 total chances for a .971 fielding percentage, just under the .973 he posted last year when the shortstop was a member of the ABCA/Rawlings Division III Gold Glove Team. The 59 runs scored ranks him 23rd in NCAA Division III.
When the Presidents took the field against PAC foes, LaDuca's raised his game to another level. He batted .438 (35-80) during the regular season against conference teams. Then in the PAC Tournament, his go-ahead two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning provided the winning margin in a 4-2 win over Grove City in the title game.
Garth made an instant impact in his first year in the Red and Black. The junior transfer led the PAC with 10 home runs and 110 total bases. Garth was also among the league leaders in OPS (1.160), Runs (47), RBI (37), Hits (55), Doubles (12), Slugging Percentage (.667), Walks (23), Hit By Pitches (12) and On-Base Percentage (.493).
Garth had 21 multi-hit games during the 2024 season. He had three four-hit games including one against Marietta where he launched the go-ahead home run in the eighth inning in a 9-7 win. He also earned a spot on the PAC All-Tournament Team and the NCAA Cortland N.Y. All-Region Team. Garth finished the regional by going 9-for-17 at the plate with three extra base hits. Garth went 4-for-4 in W&J's 3-1 win over host Cortland.
This marked the second-straight that Lutz earned ABCA All-Region honors. He ranked sixth in the PAC in OPS (1.024), third in runs scored (48), ninth in hits (56), second in doubles (17), fifth in RBI (39), seventh in total bases 89), fifth in slugging percentage (.546) and sixth in on-base percentage (.478). Lutz led the conference with 30 walks. He had 17 multi-hit games in 2024. He had a four-hit performance in a road win at Mount Union on April 28.
W&J finished with a 34-14 overall record which included a 16-4 mark in conference play. The Presidents made its 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament after claiming its 16th conference title. The conference championship was the fifth-straight for the Presidents.
