Kirchberg, Surane, Waco Tabbed For All-Region Honors

Mason Kirchberg, Jake Surane and LJ Waco each earned All-Region honors on Tuesday (May 28) when the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and D3baseball.com announced their annual teams.

Kirchberg (Jr. • DeForest) and Surane (Sr. • Lincolnshire, Ill.) made second team honors as members of ABCA All-Region 9 while Waco (Sr. • Cary, Ill.) made a pair of appearances on the D3baseball.com All-Region 9 Second Team and the ABCA All-Region 9 Third Team.

These Titans helped the team to a 19-21 (12-12 WIAC) record this season and a fourth-place finish in league play.

Kirchberg hit a team leading 13 home runs, which ranked fourth in the conference when the all-conference list was release on May 14 and led the Titans with 47 RBIs, a .665 slugging percentage and a 1.051 on-base plus slugging. The first-time all-region member also earned his first All-WIAC First Team nod this season after being named to the honorable mention team in 2023.

Surane headlined the Titans with his third All-WIAC First Team nod and the league's Max Sparger Scholar-Athlete award. He finished the season batting .369 (65-for-179) with 65 hits (fifth most in the league), 15 doubles (fourth most), two triples (second most), seven home runs and 38 RBIs for a .597 slugging percentage. He also walked 10 times and was hit by four pitches with just 31 strikeouts for a .411 on-base percentage. Surane attempted to steal a base 21 times with 18 successful tries. He is making his second appearance on the ABCA All-Region list after earning a second team nod in 2023.

Waco made his second straight All-WIAC Team by compiling a 2.89 ERA in 62.1 innings, the second lowest among WIAC pitchers. In his nine starts, he went 5-3 with three complete games, 20 earned runs allowed, 79 strikeouts, just three home runs while holding opponents to a .207 batting average. He also picked up a save in his only relief appearance of the season. Waco is a multi-time all-region honoree with a 2023 ABCA Second Team nod and a 2023 D3baseball.com First Team honor.