High collegiate achievement for Rolling Meadows' Lowe
Rolling Meadows graduate Eric Lowe is high on the list for top shortstops in Division I baseball this spring.
The third-year starter at Villanova has been named one of 47 players on the initial watch list for the 2015 Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award.
The award, sponsored by Mizuno, recognizes the nation's top shortstop and will be presented during the National College Baseball Hall of Fame Night of Champions on June 29 in Lubbock, Texas.
Lowe has been the starting shortstop for Villanova since 10 games into his freshman year.
He is batting .315 (11th in the Big East), has an on-base percentage of .400 and is second among shortstops in the Big East with a fielding percentage of .971.
Loew received All Big East Academic Honors as a sophomore and is on track to receive another one this year.
• Concordia-Chicago freshman Joe Silva (Hersey) has been named to the All-Northern Athletics College Conference second team in baseball. He was also named to the conference's all-freshman team and was second in the league voting for Freshman of the Year. Silva led Concordia with 39 starts in 39 games, playing center field. He batted .333 with 49 runs scored, 48 hits - 16 of those for extra bases, 37 RBI, 21 stolen bases and an on-base percentage of .479.
Concordia-Chicago was the NACC league champion for the third consecutive year. Silva is a secondary education major from Arlington Heights.
• Illinois redshirt senior Rob McDonnell (Barrington) owns a 7-1 record and 2.35 ERA for the No. 3-ranked Illini, who are 43-6-1 and have won 24 in a row after Sunday's 28-13 triumph over Rutgers.
Redshirt sophomore Adam Walton (Stevenson) is batting .318 with 12 doubles and 29 RBI.
Men's lacrosse
Carthage senior short stick middle Joe Divizio (Hoffman Estates), who scored 4 goals with 1 assist and 13 groundballs, was named second team College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin all-conference.
Divizio helped the Red Men to a 16-5 season and 5-0 record in the conference. They played in the NCAA Division III tournament for the first time in school history.
Men's basketball
Conant senior Christ Dolce has committed to play basketball at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis.
He was a three-year varsity basketball player at Conant.
Dolce was an all-area selection this winter and voted the "Athlete of the Month" for January in the Greater Schaumburg Area through the Buffalo Wild Wings program.
He tore his ACL in a conference game at the end of January which required surgery and ended his season.
Women's softball
Missouri-St. Louis swept the field and won its third straight Great Lakes Valley Conference championship in Peoria.
Sophomore Sara Kern (Wheeling) took away a 3-run homer by reaching over the center field fence to make the catch and keep the Tritons in the winner's bracket with a 6-4 victory over Truman State.
In the championship game, Kern had the first hit, an RBI single, for the Tritons in the top of the eighth inning and it led to all 4 runs in the 4-0 victory over Indianapolis.
This past Sunday, Kern had 2 hits and 2 runs as the No. 1 ranked Tritons (47-6) posted a 7-0 victory over No. 17 Southern Indiana in the NCAA Midwest Regional No. 1 title game to earn a spot in next weekend's Super Regional.
UMSL will be making its second straight trip to the Super Regional and will host No. 10 ranked and second-seeded Indianapolis in a best-of-three showdown Friday and Saturday.
• Illinois junior second baseman, Allie Bauch (Conant) was named Capital One Academic All-District by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Bauch is one of 12 student-athletes from District 5 to receive the award and joins seven fellow Big Ten honorees. She is the eighth Fighting Illini to earn Academic All-District honors and the first since 2010.
"Allie competes as hard in the classroom as she does at the field," said head coach Terri Sullivan. "We talk about autographing all of our work with excellence, and she certainly does that. Her commitment to excellence is second to none.
"Allie represents the University of Illinois with pride and will be met with success in all of her future endeavors."
Bauch was also named to the All-Big Ten First Team after ranking in the top 15 in the Big Ten in eight different offensive categories, including ranking second in doubles and third in hits. She is a double shy of the Illini program record, ranking 11th in the nation with 18 two-baggers, while ranking in the top seven all time at Illinois in batting average (. 403), slugging percentage (. 710) and on base percentage (. 485).
• Charleston Southern sophomore Amanda Matsumoto (Fremd) broke the school single-season hits record with 77 and she tied the single-season runs record with 50.
She led her team with a .395 batting average and 195 at-bats.
Matsumoto was named first-team All Big South Conference.
• Winona State junior pitcher Hanna Lythberg (Prospect) threw two complete-game victories and 3-plus innings of relief work in the NSIC/US Bank Tournament to help lead her team to the tournament championship.
Lythberg defeated Augustana in the championship by giving up 1 earned run on 4 hits and 3 strikeouts. She was named the pitcher of the tournament.
Earlier in the week, Lythberg was named first team all Northern Sun Conference with a conference best 1.36 ERA.
• Davenport senior KC Dunne (Buffalo Grove) was selected as the Wolverine Hoosier Athletic Conference player of the year for the second straight season.
Dunne is batting .497 on the season with 59 runs, 49 RBI and 10 home runs. She leads the conference in all categories.
Dunne reached based in 42 straight games this season, which was snapped on the final day of the regular season.
• Carthage sophomore catcher-third baseman Kristine Herdegen (Fremd) was named second-team All-College Conference Illinois and Wisconsin. She batted .324 with 4 doubles, 1, triple and 1 home run.
• Wisconisn-Oshkosh sophomore Sara Brunlieb (Rolling Meadows) was named the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference pitcher of the tear.
Brunlieb had a 21-4 record and a 2.03 ERA in 30 appearances, including 23 starts.
She recorded 106 strikeouts with 4 shutouts across 159 innings pitched. Brunlieb's 21 victories leads the WIAC and ranks eighth in the NCAA Division III. She became Oshkosh's first 21-game winner since 1985 and the second Titan to earn WIAC pitcher of the tear distinction.
Men's golf
John Carroll sophomore Connor O'Grady (St. Viator) had the Blue Streaks' low score (72) in the final round of the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament.
O'Grady started in all the team's tournaments and finished 25th in conference.
• Illinois Wesleyan's Kenny Wienckowski (St., Viator) won the CCIW medalist title with a final round of 68.
Wienckowski played on four consecutive CCIW championship teams. The Titans are headed to the NCAA Division III finals later this month.
• Miami of Ohio sophomore Greg Conrad (Barrington) finished in 22nd individually shooting 74, 69, 79, 76 at the Mid-American men's golf championships. Miami is now off to the NCAA Regionals in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Men's track
Butler freshman Harry Winter (Fremd) just missed podium honors but was the highest scorer for the Bulldogs with a fourth-place finish in the 3,000-meter steeple (9:19.91) at the BIG EAST Outdoor Track & Field Championship at Villanova.
Winter also ran a leg of the 4x400m relay team that earned a medal.
• Lewis sophomore Michael Leet (Prospect) collected another NCAA Provisional mark in the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a second-place and personal-best time of 9:03.32 at the Dr. Keeler Invitational hosted by North Central College.
Men's tennis
North Central College sophomore Raunaq Osahan (Palatine) finished the season with a record of 0-3 at the No. 6 and No. 7 singles position. The Cardinals went 7-14 overall and 1-5 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin.
• Please email Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com.