Saunders back on ABCA all-region baseball squad

Central Dutch Athletics

PELLA — Central College shortstop Garrett Saunders (Bonaparte, Van Buren HS) was named to the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division III Central all-region third team Tuesday, his second straight year receiving the honor.

In 2018, Saunders was chosen for the second team.

Starting all 40 games for Central at shortstop, Saunders led the team with a .361 batting average. He had a team-high 53 hits, leading the team with four triples and three home runs. He was 6-for-9 on stolen bases and maintained a .914 fielding percentage on 238 fielding opportunities. The senior scored 34 runs and drove in 25 more.

Saunders is also a two-time all-conference honoree and was named to the Google Cloud/CoSIDA Academic All-District squad for the second time in 2019.

He graduates as the school’s all-time leader in doubles (48) and No. 2 on the hits list (211).

The Dutch finished the 2019 season with a 24-16 record and an 11-13 mark in league play.