IWU’s Angel, Aronson Earn All-American Honors

May 30, 2007

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - - Illinois Wesleyan junior second baseman Ricky Angel (top photo) has been chosen as a first team All-American on the squads selected by the American Baseball Coaches Association and his teammate, sophomore lefthanded pitcher Matt Aronson (below), was chosen to the second team.

Angel (Glen Ellyn, Glenbard West HS), a first team all-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin and all-Central Region selection, batted .452, tied for 14th in the national Division III statistics through May 20 and the third best in an IWU season.

He had a school-record 75 hits, 10 home runs and his 19 doubles and 54 runs batted in is second most in an IWU season. He had a .771 slugging percentage, ninth best in Division III, and scored 40 runs.

Aronson (LaGrange, St. Ignatius HS), also a first team all-CCIW and all-region pick, was 8-0 with a school-record 0.85 earned run average, second best in Division III this season. He had 70 strikeouts, fourth best in a Titan season.

Outfielder James Rinne is the only other IWU player to earn first team ABCA All-American honors when he was chosen in 1997. Among the Titans chosen as second team ABCA All-Americans are outfielder Nick Chilczenkowski (2006), pitcher Cory Lapinski (2005), pitcher Steve Schilsky (2001), catcher Jay Ahrendt (1996) and pitcher Brett Robinson (1986). Also in 2001, second baseman Ryan Gilfillan was named to the third team of the ABCA All-American squads.

IWU also swept the 2007 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Central Region awards, with Angel being named “Hitter of the Year” and Aronson “Pitcher of the Year.” Angel was named first on seven-of-11 ballots while Aronson was first on six-of-11.

Earlier, Angel was named to the first team of the D3baseball.com All-American team while Aronson was on the second team.

The Titans were 32-13 overall and advanced to the NCAA Division III regional for the third time in the last four years. IWU set a league wins record in going 20-1 to take the CCIW regular season title.

CONTACT: Stew Salowitz, 309-556-3206