Three Toledo baseball student-athletes received Mid-American Conference postseason awards, as junior Garret Pike and senior Grant Umberger were each named to the first team, freshman Jacob Tabor took second team and Pike was named to the All-Defensive Team, the conference office recently announced.
Pike picked up his second postseason honor after being named Second Team All-MAC in 2023. Umberger and Tabor each picked their first career conference postseason awards.
A Waterville native, Pike had a record-setting regular season for the Rockets, slugging 20 home runs and recording 53 RBIs. He broke Toledo’s single-season record with his 17th home run of the season on May 7 at Oakland and broke Toledo’s career record the next game, hitting his 39th career home run at Notre Dame. He also went 5-for-5 with three home runs and five RBIs in a rout of Kent State on April 13 in the first game of a doubleheader.
Pike entered the postseason tied for the league lead in home runs and leading the league with 80 hits. He ranks in the top 10 in seven other offensive categories, sitting second in total bases (150), fourth in runs scored (56) and slugging percentage (.691), fifth in OPS (1.112), sixth in average (.360), tied for eighth in RBIs (56) and tied for ninth in stolen bases (13).
Defensively, Pike took over the starting center field role early in the season, playing 47 of his 55 games in center. He finished the regular season with a .992 fielding percentage, 13th-best among all MAC fielders, recording 118 putouts.
After transferring from Virginia Tech, Umberger put together a stellar senior campaign, ranking first in the league in ERA (3.82), second in opposing batting average (.225), third in runs allowed (34), sixth in hits allowed (59) and batters struck out looking (24), and seventh in total strikeouts (75). All told, Umberger put together a 5-4 record in 14 starts which is tied for the fifth-most wins among MAC pitchers.
The Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, native has allowed three or fewer runs 12 times and pitched 5.0 or more innings 10 times this season, totaling a team-high 70.2 innings on the season. He has also struck out six or more batters six times, including nine strikeouts with just four hits allowed in six shutout innings on April 13 vs. Kent State.
In 32 appearances out of the bullpen, Tabor delivered 36.0 innings with an ERA of 2.75, allowing just 11 earned runs on 32 hits with an opponent batting average of .244. Tabor struck out 39 batters to just 11 walks, amounting to 9.75 strikeouts per nine innings. The Powell native had a 3-0 record with six saves in the regular season, tied for the most saves in the conference.
Tabor struck out multiple batters in 10 appearances, including a season-high four each against Winthrop (Feb. 25) and Southeast Missourt (Mar. 3). He delivered a key performance in his longest outing of the season on April 13, pitching 3.2 innings of shutout baseball on just one hit, allowing UT to break a late tie in an 11-7 triumph over Kent State.
Two players earning postseason honors also earned weekly recognition this season, as Pike was named MAC Player of the Week on April 1 and Tabor took MAC Pitcher of the Week on April 15.
