Held headlines baseball’s four all-conference selections
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Senior Brady Held was named American Rivers Conference Pitcher of the Year and three others were recognized on the 2022 All-Conference Team, as announced by the league on Wednesday.
Held represents Simpson's first major award winner on the all-conference ballot since third baseman Dan Rieck took home MVP honors in 2004. The conference began naming pitcher and position players of the year during the 2008 season as opposed to a most valuable player. Along with Rieck, pitchers Joe Blake (1971) and Joel Johnson (1991) were previous MVP honorees for the Storm.
Sophomore pitcher Trey Castile, junior outfielder Ty Cowley, and senior pitcher Brett Kauzlarich also landed on the all-conference team following their performances this season. Castile and Cowley both earned second team honors, and Kauzlarich was an honorable mention pick.
Simpson's trio of all-conference hurlers helped lead a pitching staff that posted the lowest team ERA in eight years and broke the school record for strikeouts in a season by 70. Held led the team with a 2.23 ERA and 84 strikeouts while Castile (68) and Kauzlarich (69) combined for over a third of the Storm's 376 strikeouts. In conference play, Simpson tallied 248 strikeouts and held opponents to .236 batting average to lead the league in both categories.
As the Storm's primary leadoff hitter, Cowley reached base at a .427 clip during the conference season to rank in the top-20 in the league along with Held who recorded a team-high .444 on-base percentage. Cowley and Held tied for fifth on the team with 19 hits in A-R-C play and combined for 73 hits overall. Held led the team with 20 walks and Cowley topped the team and league with 19 HBPs.
Brady Held, pitcher of the year
• Senior pitcher from Indianola, Iowa
• Led the league in overall ERA (2.23), opposing batting average (.178), and runs allowed (13)
• Went 4-0 overall with two wins and one save in A-R-C play
• Allowed league opponents to hit just .181 off him, ranking second in the conference
• Became Simpson's all-time strikeout leader, finishing the season with 84 overall (2nd in A-R-C) and 57 against league foes (1st in A-R-C)
• Finished the year ranked second in Division III in strikeouts per nine innings (15.64)
• Named A-R-C Pitcher of the Week twice
• Hit .352 in conference action with 19 hits, five doubles, three home runs, eight RBIs and 17 runs scored
• Ranked fourth in the league in overall batting average (.398) and on-base percentage (.488) as well as seventh in slugging percentage (.602)
Trey Castile, second team
• Sophomore pitcher from Urbandale, Iowa
• Went 4-2 with a 4.25 ERA overall, going 3-1 with a 4.00 ERA in the A-R-C
• Started nine games for the Storm including six during conference season
• Tallied 68 strikeouts in 53.0 innings of work
• Tied for second in the league with 51 strikeouts in conference play
• Held league opponents to a .233 batting average (7th in A-R-C)
• Struck out a career-high 10 in a 9-3 home win over eventual A-R-C Tournament Champion Coe
Ty Cowley, second team
• Junior outfielder from Urbandale, Iowa
• Hit .288 overall and .271 in A-R-C action
• Tallied 32 hits with five doubles, a triple, 16 RBIs and 26 runs scored
• Drew nine walks and was hit by pitch 19 times, the most in the league this season and second-most in Simpson's single season history
• Reached safely in each of the last 14 games of the season, the team's third longest streak of the year
• Had nine multi-hit games and drove in multiple runs on five occasions
• Played all three outfield positions, starting 16 games in center, eight in right and seven in left
Brett Kauzlarich, honorable mention
• Senior pitcher from Centerville, Iowa
• Went 6-5 with a 4.42 ERA overall, finishing tied for second in the league in wins
• Recorded the eighth-lowest ERA (3.00) in conference play while posting a 3-4 record
• Finished second on the team and eighth in the conference with 69 strikeouts overall
• Had 44 strikeouts in conference play, highlighted by a career-high 16 in a 2-1 win over Central
