Held named D3baseball.com Preseason All-American

INDIANOLA, Iowa – After a historic 2022 campaign, Brady Held has been named a D3baseball.com Preseason All-American. The Indianola, Iowa native landed on the first team as a utility player.

Held earned a number of postseason accolades last spring including second team All-American honors from D3baseball.com. He also collected first team all-region honors from both D3baseball.com and American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings and was named American Rivers Conference Pitcher of the Year.

Last season on the mound, Held produced a 4-0 ledger to bring his career record to 16-5. Behind a .178 opponent batting average (1st in A-R-C) and 15.64 strikeouts per nine innings (1st in A-R-C, 2nd in NCAA DIII), Held struck out 84 batters (2nd in A-R-C) and allowed just 31 hits (t-1st in A-R-C). He boasted the best ERA in the conference for the second season in a row with a 2.23, and enters this year with a 2.60 career ERA that ranks first in school history. Held will look to add to his program-leading strikeout total of 231 in 2023.

Held will also aim to continue his career success at the plate in his final season. He led the Storm with a .398 batting average, .488 on-base percentage and .602 slugging percentage last season, ranking top-7 in the conference in all three categories. He recorded 41 hits, including 12 doubles and three home runs, drew 20 walks, scored a team-high 35 runs and racked up 21 RBIs. He finished the season with 15 multi-hit games, including five with three hits, and tallied multiple RBIs four times.

Held and the Storm are scheduled to kick off the 2023 season against St. Norbert on Feb. 25 in Jacksonville, Ill.