Three SFCC Baseball Players Earn Region 16 Honors

The State Fair Community College Roadrunners baseball team has much to celebrate after its second season since the sport resumed in 2017.

The Roadrunners hosted and won the first sub-regional game in the history of the program, defeated the top-seeded team in the first round at the Region 16 tournament and won 33 games. Now, the Roadrunners are celebrating All-Region 16 honors presented to three of its sophomore players.

Pitcher Jake McMahill of Blue Springs has earned All-Region first team honors. Zack Ehlen of Grain Valley has earned second team honors in the outfield, and Jacob Mitchell of Mountain Grove has earned second team honors as the designated hitter.

“All three of these players are exactly what we look for in our baseball student-athletes,” said Head Coach Jud Kindle. “All three have done well academically and will graduate. They worked extremely hard to be successful on and off of the field.”

McMahill recorded a team-high eight victories on the mound for SFCC with a 2.50 earned run average and four complete games. His ERA was the 43rd best in the country. He recorded 84 strikeouts in 79.1 innings, which tied him for 35th in the country in innings pitched. He made 13 appearances and 12 starts this year for the Roadrunners.

“McMahill was our guy on the mound all year,” said Kindle. “Anytime he was on the mound, we had a good chance of winning. He gave us quality starts and showed he could compete with the best teams. McMahill kept us in games all season. I don’t think he had a bad outing.”

Ehlen played in all 57 games his sophomore year. He batted .299 and stole a team-high 34 bases, which tied for 10th in the country. He scored 60 runs and recorded 56 hits, placing second on the team. He led the team in doubles with 13 and had a team-high .445 on-base percentage after spending the majority of his time at the top of the batting order. He led the team in walks with 34.

“Zack had a very good year, although his batting average was down a little bit from his freshman year,” said Kindle. “His approach at the plate was better. He played center field for all year while battling through some injuries.”

Mitchell finished second on the team in batting average at .340. He led the team in home runs with 11 and tied for team lead in RBIs with 49. He led the team in slugging percentage at .647 and in total bases with 101 and extra-base hits with 24.

“Jacob had a great year offensively,” said Kindle. “He was consistent at driving in runs and putting together quality at bats.”

David Rohrbach, SFCC Athletics