Braden Cox Selected First Team All-SLIAC; Dylan Hill Named Second Team
O'FALLON, Mo. – Eureka's Braden Cox (Washington, Ill./Illini Bluffs/Black Hawk) has been selected to the All-St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Baseball First Team as an infielder and Dylan Hill (Steeleville, Ill./Steeleville) has been selected to All-SLIAC Second Team as a utility player.
Cox is the Red Devils' third First Team selection in the past three full seasons, following Sean Green in 2019 and Jimmy Peterson in 2021.
A junior transfer from Black Hawk, Cox made a huge impact in his first season in maroon and gold.
In 164 plate appearances over 38 games, he slashed .400/.451/.686 while leading the team with 56 hits and 49 RBI. He finished second in the SLIAC in RBI (49), tied for third with nine home runs, fourth in batting average (.400), fifth in slugging percentage (.686) and tied for fifth in doubles (13).
Cox also scored 37 runs, drew 16 walks and stole three bases. At first base, he recorded a .985 fielding percentage with 241 putouts and 27 assists in 272 chances.
In SLIAC play, no one in the league collected more hits, tying with Fontbonne's Braeden Dobbs and Blackburn's Adam Holm. He posted the league's second-highest batting average (.429) and the fifth-highest slugging percentage (.740).
A vocal team leader, Cox had a knack for delivering in big moments this season. By season's end, Cox had notched 17 multi-hit games, including five in which he had three or more. He went 4-for-5 in the last regular-season game of the year at Webster, and on three occasions, he produced two doubles in the same game, including in the SLIAC Tournament quarterfinals against Spalding. From April 22 to May 1, Cox homered in four straight games, and he went yard twice in a 9-8 win over Capital in Texas on March 7.
Hill, a sophomore who primarily played right field, developed a reputation as a budding power hitter for the Red Devils this season. He slashed .298/.394/.554., raising his slugging percentage 132 points from his freshman year. After hitting one home run last year, Hill tied with Cox for third in the SLIAC with nine bombs this spring.
On March 26, he became the first Red Devils to mash three home runs in a single game since 2010 in a 12-1 win over Greenville. It was also the first three-homer game in the SLIAC in four seasons, and he subsequently received D3baseball.com Team of the Week honors. Later in the season, he had two homers in the same game against Westminster on April 23.
Hill recorded new career highs in hits (36), RBI (29), runs (26), doubles (four) and walked 14 times for the second straight year. He also made 49 putouts and three assists in 58 chances in the field.
Junior middle infielder Austin Davis (Eureka, Ill./Eureka) was Eureka's representative on the SLIAC All-Sportsmanship Team.