The Columbus baseball team had more all-conference players this season than they did wins.
After a 3-17 season, the Wildcats had four players named, in one form or another, to the all-conference teams for the Southeast Iowa Superconference’s north division. They had one first-teamer in Abel Mena, one second-teamer in Tommy Pretz, and two honorable mentions in Caleb McCullough and Evan Rees.
Mena, across the whole season (conference and non-conference play), finished in the top 15 in the conference in batting average, hitting .412. He was also tied for tenth in the league in on-base percentage, reaching base exactly half the time.
Pretz was the one Wildcat pitcher to finish with an ERA under eight, which was good for second-team all-conference honors. Despite the rest of his team’s pitching woes, Pretz was fairly successful, finishing with a 3-3 record on top of a 3.86 ERA and 43 strikeouts through 26.1 innings of work.
McCullough was one of the top hitters on the team, finishing as the only Wildcat to drive in double-digit runs with 11; eight of those RBI came in conference play. He also hit .286 against conference opponents.
Rees was another one of the top hitters on the team with a .306 batting average. He also finished second on the team in RBI and third in runs scored, having nine apiece.
Two of the four all-conference selections will return next season, with Mena and McCullough graduating.