From Washington University Athletics
Junior starting pitcher John Howard of the Washington University in St. Louis baseball team spotlighted three All-Region honors for the Bears program by claiming Central Region Pitcher of the Year, as announced by D3baseball.com on Monday.
Howard was joined by sophomore John Brinkman on the All-Central Region First Team, while freshman Ryan Loutos was chosen on the All-Central Third Team. Howard is the second Bear in school history to earn the distinction as the D3baseball.com Central Region Pitcher of the Year, as Brad Margolin previously received the award in 2016.
John Howard
In addition to the awards from D3baseball.com, Howard was named to the Central Region American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings First Team. He also captured University Athletic Association (UAA) Pitcher of the Year, all-UAA first team and Google Cloud All-District 5 team honors for his junior season. Howard led the Bears with a 6-3 record, 71.1 innings pitched and a 1.01 earned run average which ranked fourth in Division III. The St. Louis-native also finished the season with a career-high 63 strikeouts while limiting opponents to 58 hits and 14 walks. Howard held the opposition to one earned run or less in 11 of his 12 appearances on the year.
John Brinkman
Brinkman, also an all-UAA first team honoree, was awarded All-Region honors as a utility player as he split time between first and third base while contributing 13.1 innings pitched. The Worden, Ill.-native batted a team-best .372, with 48 hits, 15 doubles, a triple and a home run while knocking in 42 runs. Brinkman also scored 22 runs while reaching base 18 times by means of walks. He finished the year with a slash line of .372/.405/.479 (batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage). In Brinkman's 10 appearances, he struck out 18 batters compared to five walks with a 3.38 ERA.
Ryan Loutos
The UAA Rookie of the Year, Loutos, led the Bears and the UAA with 75 strikeouts. The strikeout total is the most for WashU since 2010, when Jeremy Rogoff reached the same mark. The Bears' all-time record is 106 set by Marc Gluckman in 1983. Loutos averaged 11.77 strikeouts per-nine innings which ranked 27th in Division III, while compiling a 2.83 ERA and 6.25 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He threw 57.1 innings pitched, allowing 46 hits and 12 walks.