The College of Wooster's Tyler Chumita and Ben Gbur earned all-region honors following record-setting seasons for the Fighting Scots' baseball team. Chumita was a first-team all-region selection by the American Baseball Coaches Association and D3baseball.com, while Gbur earned first-team status from the ABCA and third-team laurels from D3baseball.com.
Chumita broke Wooster's 36-year-old single-season RBI record and finished the year with 84, a total that currently rates as the 11th-most in single-season NCAA Div. III history and is the second-highest mark in North Coast Athletic Conference history. The NCAC Player of the Year ranked second on the team with a .372 average (77-for-207). His 77 hits are tied for the 14th-most in program history, while the 207 at bats at the fourth-most at Wooster. Chumita's line included 43 runs, 12 doubles, seven home runs, and three triples. He walked 14 times and sported a .434 on-base percentage. The education and mathematics major, and soon-to-be teacher at Hilliard Darby High School, logged multiple RBI in 22 games on the year and had 26 multi-hit games. The slick-fielding shortstop made just seven errors in 224 chances this year, good for a .969 fielding percentage.
Of note, this is Chumita's second year earning all-region honors from both the ABCA and D3baseball.com.
Gbur established Wooster's 80-80 club with 83 hits and 83 runs on the year, with the runs ranking as the most in NCAC and Wooster single-season history. The five-tool centerfielder hit .367 (83-for-226) on the year with 54 RBI, 22 doubles, 15 home runs, three triples, and 24 stolen bases, and is just the fourth player in program history to have at least 75 hits and 75 runs in a season. Gbur's 83 runs are tied for the sixth-most in NCAA Div. III history, while his 83 base knocks are the fourth-most in program history and the top total since Sean Karpen's program-leading 97 in 2009. The two-time All-NCAC selection broke Wooster's single-season at bats record with 226, and the gold-glove caliber center fielder made just one error in 167 defensive chances. The mathematics alumnus, who is playing this summer for the Prospect League's Chillicothe Paints before trying to utilize his remaining eligibility at the Div. I level, went on a tear in the postseason with a .414 (14-for-34) average in eight NCAA games. Within those contests, Gbur scored 13 times, drove in 12 runs, mashed five home runs, and tallied three doubles.
While he earned all-region honors as an outfielder, Gbur's pitching impact was instrumental in Wooster's postseason run. On the year, Gbur went 1-2 with five saves in 25 1/3 innings spanning 13 outings. Gbur struck out 26 and allowed just 20 hits. Three of his five saves came in the NCAC Tournament.
Wooster finished the year at 35-17. The Scots earned an at-large berth in the NCAA Div. III Tournament and warded off elimination four straight times to win the Alton Regional. Then in the Salisbury Super Regional, Wooster fought off elimination once before concluding the season in an 18-16 slugfest heartbreaker against seventh-ranked Salisbury University.
The ABCA includes statistics through regionals for its all-region balloting, while D3baseball.com only includes the regular season and conference tournament.