UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. - Saginaw Valley State University senior Hayden Jatczak was named the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings NCAA Division II (ABCA/Rawlings) Midwest Region Player of the Year and First-Team All-Midwest Region as a designated hitter. He is joined by three teammates as Reed Raymond was named First-Team All-Midwest Region as an outfielder and Brandon Scheurer and Colin Cornwell were named Second-Team All-Midwest Region as an infielder and outfielder respectively.
Jatczak has been named to three Regional Player of the Year honors including Midwest Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and Midwest Region Player of the Year by the Division II Conference Commissioners Association (D2CCA). He has also claimed the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Player of the Year and was the first GLIAC Player of the Year from SVSU since 1993. Jatczak ranked in the top five in all of NCAA DII in several categories this season including batting average, doubles, hits, hits per game, runs, runs per game and total bases. Jatczak set new single-season records for SVSU in batting average hitting .468, hits with 108, RBI with 82, runs scored with 90, doubles with 27, and home runs with 16. He also threw the first confirmed no-hitter for SVSU since 1992 with a 5-0 win against Findlay on February 18.
When asked about Jatczak, SVSU head baseball coach Adam Piotrowicz said, "One of the most dominant and consistent offensive performances I've seen over the course of a full season. All good hitters get hot at certain points, but for him to maintain his production all year is incredible and a testament to his skill level."
Raymond also had a career season as a junior. He finished the year with highs in batting average, hits, doubles, triples, runs scored, RBI, walks, and stolen bases. Raymond started the season with a 14-game hitting streak and got on base in the first 27 games of the season. He had his best game of the season against Davenport on April 14, when he went 4-for-6 and was a home run shy of the cycle as he tallied six RBI and scored two runs in the 14-4 victory.
"Reed had an incredible year and career. For the other coaches in the region to see his production and vote him of this honor is great to see. He is a tremendous talent, leader, and selfless player who just wants to win every time he steps on the field. We don't have the season we have if we don't have someone like Reed in the middle of the order. I'm very fortunate to have gotten to coach him and am incredibly proud of him for receiving this honor. It couldn't have happened to a better person."
Scheurer was named D2CCA Second-Team All-Midwest Region along with First-Team All-GLAC this season. He had the best season of his career with highs in batting average, hits, doubles, triples, runs scored, RBI, walks and stolen bases. He tied the SVSU single-season and career records for triples hitting his eighth of the 2024 campaign and 11th of his career in the ninth inning of his final game as a Cardinal.
"Brandon had a great work ethic and it resulted in the best year of his career. He was our leadoff guy for 58 games and helped set the table for our incredible offense. He earned this award with a great season and has had to overcome a lot to get to this point in his career. Not many guys can handle the workload it takes to be a dual guy like Brandon, Hayden and Reed have done this season."
Cornwell also earned D2CCA Second-Team All-Midwest Region as well as First-Team All-GLIAC this season. He had a career year setting highs in batting average, hits, doubles, triples, runs scored, RBI, walks, and stolen bases. He finishes his career second in SVSU history in doubles with 53, fourth in walks with 113, and fifth in runs scored with 157. Cornwell recorded 28 multi-hit games with nine of them in a row.
"Colin has worked hard to improve his game over the years and the results speak for themselves. His competitiveness is on another level and is reliable as they come from a leadership and production standpoint. As I've said before, he is a nightmare for opposing pitching staffs to face because he doesn't have a weakness in the strike zone, is also incredibly disciplined and can beat you in so many ways. This is just the culmination of a great career. He will go down as one of the most consistent hitters in program history and deserves a chance to continue playing at the next level somewhere!"
SVSU baseball hosted a postseason tournament for the first time in program history as they hosted the Midwest Regional #1 and the Midwest Super Regional. The Cardinals had never made it to the Super Regional before and ended their season with two one-run losses to the University of Indianapolis. Saginaw Valley baseball set a program record in wins with 41, GLIAC wins with 23, innings pitched with 487.0, pitching strikeouts with 433, runs scored with 516, RBI with 464, hits with 691, doubles with 142, triples with 25 and walks with 308.
After his second season at the helm, Piotrowicz said this about the 2024 campaign, "Our greatest strength this season has been how deep we were from a talent perspective. There are numerous guys on the roster deserving of these honors but to have 4 on the All-Region team is an incredible achievement. This is just the beginning of what this program and these individuals can do, as it is an exciting time to be a part of SVSU Baseball!"