BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – With the 2024 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) season in the books, the conference announced its annual baseball awards on Tuesday.
St. Olaf senior designated hitter Sam Lavin was named the MIAC Max Molock Player of the Year, while Bethel graduate right-hander John Solfest was selected as the Mike Augustin Pitcher of the Year, and St. Olaf first-year third baseman Cole Pleimann earned MIAC Rookie of the Year honors. St. Olaf head coach Matt McDonald was recognized by his peers as the 2024 Jim Dimick Coach of the Year.
Lavin (Algonquin, Ill. | Marian Central Catholic) was voted the Max Molock Player of the Year after batting .395 with 30 hits, eight extra-base hits, and 19 runs batted in during the conference season. Lavin also shined on the mound, posting a 4-0 record with two complete games, two saves, and a 2.23 earned run average - along with a league-leading 48 strikeouts - in five starts. He is the fifth Ole since 1982 to receive MIAC Baseball Player of the Year honors and the first St. Olaf player since 2010 to win the award.
Solfest (Shoreview, Minn. | Mounds View) was selected as the Mike Augustin Pitcher of the Year after leading the MIAC in earned run average (1.36), shutouts (3), complete games (3), and innings pitched (39.2) against conference foes in 2024. Solfest held MIAC hitters to a conference-low .135 batting average and rendered five different MIAC teams scoreless in his mound appearances, at one point posting 16 consecutive scoreless innings of work which included a nine-inning, no-hit, no-decision against Saint John's in April. He is the third Bethel player to be named MIAC Baseball Pitcher of the Year and the first Royal since 2015 to win the award.
Pleimann (Milford, Conn. | Jonathan Law) was named MIAC Rookie of the Year after batting .375 with 27 hits and 19 RBI while starting all 20 conference games in his debut season. Pleimann had six extra-base hits and walked eleven times. He is the first Ole to be named MIAC Baseball Rookie of the Year since Erik Nelson won the inaugural award in 2009.
McDonald (29th season) was celebrated by his peers as the MIAC Baseball Jim Dimick Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career after guiding the Oles to their 18th regular-season MIAC title in program history and St. Olaf's first baseball championship since 2007. The Oles went 17-3 in MIAC games and 30-14 overall, marking the program's first 30-win season since 2009. McDonald - who previously won the Jim Dimick Coach of the Year award in 1998, 2000, and 2007 - was an All-Conference second baseman on Dimick's 1988 and 1989 MIAC championship squads at St. Olaf.
In addition to individual awards, MIAC coaches also selected 32 players to the All-Conference Team with 17 more receiving honorable mention distinction. All awards were nominated by and voted on by the eleven MIAC head baseball coaches and only statistics from regular season MIAC contests were considered for conference honors; any nominated player not selected as All-Conference but still receiving votes from at least three coaches was named honorable mention.
Fourteen players named All-Conference in 2024 were also selected for the honor in 2022 or 2023. Gustavus outfielder Bryce Novak - who became the MIAC's all-time hits leader in 2024 with 260 for his collegiate career - joined the exclusive list of four-time All-MIAC selections, a feat achieved by just 13 baseball players in recorded conference history. Novak is the first four-time All-MIAC honoree in baseball since Carleton's Hayden Tsutsui - the previous MIAC hit king - in 2016. Bethel outfielder Matthew Carlsen was named to his third straight All-MIAC team, making him the 82nd baseball player in recorded conference history to be voted All-MIAC three times or more.
The MIAC also announced the All-Playoff Team for baseball, which recognized the top eleven performers from the conference tournament, as selected by playoff-participant head coaches.