CHICAGO, ILL.—Three members of the Illinois Institute of Technology baseball team landed 2021 all-midwest region honors from the ABCA and d3baseball.com on Tuesday. Junior 2B Brandon Bennitt (second team), and senior first baseman Ted Howell (third team) earned all-region from both the ABCA and D3Baseball.com while senior shortstop Nick Bledsoe (second team) landed the distinction from the ABCA.
Bennitt, Howell and Bledsoe each landed all-region for the first time in their careers. This marks the Scarlet Hawks' first all-region selections since Michael Courtney earned all-region distinction from both the ABCA and D3Baseball.com in 2019.
Bennitt registered a team-leading 50 hits (.417 batting average, 50-of-120). The Mokena, Illinois native added 15 doubles, five home runs, 30 RBI, 13 walks, six stolen bases, 39 runs scored, a .683 slugging percentage, and a .463 on-base percentage in 2021. Bennitt went 4-for-6 with four RBI in an 18-12 victory over Concordia Chicago on April 12. His stellar season earned him a spot on the 2021 All-NACC South Division Team.
Howell engineered the Scarlet Hawks offense with 20 doubles, seven home runs, 43 RBI, and a .771 slugging percentage. The Parker, Colorado native finished the season with a .407 (48-of-118) batting average, 34 runs scored, and a .452 on-base percentage. Howell's 20 doubles ranked seventh in NCAA Division III, while his 0.69 doubles per game came in at No. 2 in the country. His game of note occurred in an 18-8 loss to Aurora on April 18, when he went 4-for-5 with a home run and three runs scored in game two. The 2019 season ended with Howell being named to the College of Sports Information Director's of American (COSIDA) Academic All-American Second Team. Howell, a two-time NACC Scholar Athlete, earned a spot on the 2021 All-NACC South Division Team.
Bledsoe led the team with a .423 (47-of-111) batting average, 18 walks, a .489 on-base percentage, and four triples. The Crete, Illinois native's biggest moment of the season occurred in an 11-8 (11 innings) win over Aurora on April 17, when his bases-loaded triple in the 11th inning broke an 8-8 tie and gave the Scarlet Hawks an 11-8 lead and eventual victory. Bledsoe's performance secured him April 20 NACC Baseball South Division Position Player of the Week as a shortstop. He added 36 RBI, seven doubles, three home runs, seven stolen bases, and a .640 slugging percentage to his 2021 stat line. Bledsoe concluded the season with a spot on the 2021 All-NACC South Division Team.
The Scarlet Hawks concluded the 2021 season with a 19-10, 13-7 NACC record.