Tiger Named to All-Region First Team; Kickhaefer Earns Region VI Gold Glove Award
Story by Wyatt Ebersole
COLBY, Kan – Two Butler Baseball players added more hardware to their trophy cabinet when the Region VI All-Region teams and Gold Glove Awards were announced on Wednesday afternoon by the KJCCC office.
Izack Tiger, the Grizzlies sophomore pitcher from Del City, Oklahoma, was named to the Region VI All-Region First Team. He is the fourth Grizzly to earn All-Region VI honors in the last three seasons, joining Braxton Hyde in 2022, as well as Jonah Cox and Josh Cameron in the 2021 season.
In addition to his First Team All-Region honors this year, Tiger was the lone Grizzly to garner First-Team All-KJCCC West honors. He was also named the KJCCC West Pitcher of the Year this season, after a year that saw him finish with a 10-5 record, an ERA of 3.93, throw 84.2 innings, and strikeout a conference leading 121 batters. His 12.86 K/9 also led the conference and ranked 29th nationally. Tiger's best game of the season came in the post season, when he threw a complete nine-inning game, allowing just two runs on six hits while striking out 15 batters in the Grizzlies 3-2 second round playoff win over Fort Scott on May 17th. Tiger is the Butler Baseball program leader for strikeouts in a career, finishing with 243 strikeouts in Grizzly purple and gold.
Caden Kickhaefer, the Grizzlies redshirt freshman pitcher from Salina, Kansas, received a Region VI Gold Glove award for his efforts this season. Kickhaefer is the first Grizzly Gold Glove Award Winner since Mason Goade, who won the award as a second baseman in the 2017 season. Kickhaefer finished the year with a flawless 1.000 fielding percentage, going 19-19 on putouts this season.
In addition to his great work in the field, Kickhaefer was named to the All-KJCCC West Second team. Kickhaefer finished fifth in ERA among all pitchers in the KJCCC, and first among KJCCC West arms. Kick also finished with an excellent 10-1 record and went 5-0 across his final seven starts. His best game of the year came on May 3rd when he threw a complete game, five hit shutout on the road against Pratt in a 4-0 Grizzly win.
FULL ALL-REGION SELECTIONS HERE