DMACC Bears News
Posted 6/06/09
Two DMACC Baseball Players Named All-Americans
DMACC infielder Jake Astor of North Liberty and pitcher Patrick Cooper of Danville, KY have been named to the 2009 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II All-American First-Team. With the announcement, Astor becomes a two-time All-American because he was named to the 2008 NJCAA All American First-Team. They were the only players from an Iowa college to be named to the prestigious team this year.
Earlier, Astor and Cooper were named to the 2009 North Plains All-District Team and to the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) All-Region First-Team.
Astor, first basemen/designated hitter, set seven new DMACC single season or career records this year. The records include:
- Most Career Hits with 180
- Most Career RBI with 151
- Most Career Walks with 79
- Most Career Putouts with 863
- Most Single Season RBI with 79 in 2009
- Most Single Season Walks with 51 in 2009
- Most Single Season Putouts with 476 in 2008
Astor is also one of only four DMACC players to hit .400 or better in both of his years at community college level. Astor hit .442 in his freshman season and .444 this year.
Cooper, who had an 8-1 record with four complete games in his 13 starts for the Bears this season, also set a single season strikeout record for a pitcher with 106. He had a 3.48 earned run average and opponents hit only .204 off of him this year. Cooper gave up only 55 hits in 72 1/3 innings on the mound.
Astor and Cooper led the DMACC Bears to the NJCAA Division II College World Series both years playing for DMACC Head Baseball Coach Dan Fitzgerald.
The DMACC Bears finished with a team record 55-11 record, a single season record .833 winning percentage and a 103-29 record in the two seasons Fitzgerald has been head coach.
Astor has signed a national letter of intent to play baseball at Southern Arkansas next year while Cooper will be playing at Bradley University.