Baseball Turns Two as Garst and Casanova Secure All-IIAC First Team Accolades
May 13, 2015
IIAC Release
DUBUQUE, Iowa – The University of Dubuque baseball team saw two sophomores named to the All-Iowa Conference First Team for the first time since 2007 as Dalton Garst captured his first honor and Daniel Casanova earned his second.
A dual threat on the mound and at the dish, Garst paced the team with a .379 batting average over the entire season and placed fourth in the IIAC with a .371 clip during 28 conference games. Batting in the middle of the order, Garst rarely went down on strikes with just eight strikeouts in a team-leading 153 at-bats and registered a hitting streak of 13 games to begin the season and a 17-game blitz just two games later. Garst’s 25 RBIs and 58 hits led the team while his two home runs and 10 doubles were second on the team.
Both of Garst’s home runs came in the midst of 3-for-5 performances in a 12-2 win over Elmhurst (Ill.) and a one-run defeat to Loras. Garst also added a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh that scored fellow IIAC honoree, Casanova, in a thrilling victory over Coe, 4-3.
His clutch play came as no surprise after he finished second on the team with a .340 batting average with two outs and brought home a team-best 11 two-out RBIs on the season.
On the bump, Garst started all seven of his games and totaled a 3-3 record with a 5.66 ERA and 22 strikeouts against three walks. In UD’s lone series win over Buena Vista on March 27, Garst hurled 5.0 innings, giving up two earned runs and six hits while striking out four. The sophomore ran his record to 3-0 up to that point.
The Winnebago, Ill. native majors in accounting.
The speedy Casanova continued his assault on the record books after swiping a team-best 15 stolen bases on the season. Now second all-time in UD history, Casanova needs 11 steals over the next two years to become the all-time leader. Casanova was an all-around threat after placing in the 200m (7th, 23.08) and setting a UD indoor record in the 4x200m relay (1:29.19) at the IIAC Indoor Championships during the baseball preseason.
No matter, the sophomore still finished second on the team with a .362 batting average and led the team in multiple others including runs scored (31), doubles (11), triples (4), total bases (76), and stolen bases (15). Casanova’s three triples during IIAC play tied for the league lead over 28 IIAC games.
Casanova was a hit factory in totaling 17 mult-hit games, including a 2-for-5 outing where he belted a triple and a home run in a spring break defeat to Minnesota-Morris. The 2014 All-IIAC First team selection compiled two, four-hit games and added three runs, four RBIS, and two doubles in 20-5 drubbing of McDaniel over spring break. Casanova totaled three hits, two runs, two RBIs, and one double against NCAA Division III Regional Tournament qualifier, Wartburg, on April 11.
The Lake Tapps, Wash. native was recently named to the Capital One Academic All-District 8 team as a 4.0 student in biology.
