NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The post-season awards continue to pour in for Carleton College pitcher
Kiefer Lord (So./San Carlos, Calif./Menlo School), who was selected as a first-team All-American by D3baseball.com on Wednesday. He is the first full-time pitcher in program history to garner All-America recognition (
see chart below) and the fourth player overall to do so. Lord is only the program's second All-American over the last 30 years.
Yesterday, Lord was named the All-Region 9 First Team by both D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). Those accolades came on the heels of his MIAC Pitcher of the Year honor and All-MIAC First Team recognition.
During the pandemic shortened 2021 campaign, Lord made his collegiate debut and went 1-5 with a 5.14 ERA in seven appearances. He continued to work on his mechanics and added some velocity. The results were impressive and immediate.
This spring, Lord turned in one of the best seasons in program annals, going 4-1 with a 1.65 ERA, the second-lowest mark in recorded team history and the best by a Knight since 1964. His ERA ranks 12th in Division III this season and slots him 18th among all NCAA pitchers (Division I, II, and III).
He concluded the year with 81 strikeouts—the highest single-season total in record team history—over only 49.0 innings for a team-record smashing 14.88 strikeouts per 9-innings. That ratio is more than 4.5 strikeouts better than the previous Carleton standard and currently ranks Lord fifth in Division III and eighth across all three divisions of NCAA Baseball. He had 15-strikeout performances against St. Scholastica (March 8) and St. Olaf (April 19), making him 1 of only 7 pitchers across NCAA Division I, II, and III with multiple games this season with at least 15 strikeouts.
He paced the MIAC in ERA, strikeouts, hits per 9 innings (4.96), and WHIP (0.69) as he tossed a conference-high five complete games during the regular season, ranking 10th in Division III, along with a MIAC-best three shutouts. Lord's WHIP is good for second among all NCAA pitchers this season.
He was unscored upon in six of his nine appearances overall and added two other starts in which he surrendered only one run apiece. Lord's lone loss on the season was a 1-0 defeat in his final outing of the year as he tossed a three-hitter at Augsburg, his sixth start in which he allowed three or fewer hits.
Lord limited opponents to a .154 batting average, almost one-half the national average of .290. His average of 4.96 hits allowed per 9-innings is fourth in D-III and eighth among all NCAA pitchers.
He yielded only 1.29 walks-per-9 innings, the lowest figure in the team's record book. That gave Lord a ratio of 11.57 strikeouts per walk, seventh-best in Division III and 11th across all three levels of NCAA baseball.
He turned in two of his best starts this season against teams that qualified for the NCAA Championships, going 1-0 while tossing 7.0 shutout innings at both No. 17 Chapman University and MIAC champion Bethel University. In those starts, Lord yielded a total of three hits with one walk and 18 strikeouts while facing two squads that both hit .336 or better as a team this season. Lord added a complete game 5-1 win at MIAC Playoffs qualifier Saint John's, an outing that saw him carry a shutout into the final frame.
Lord and Gustavus Adolphus first baseman Jack Hanson, the MIAC Player of the Year after batting .491 with 14 home runs and 57 RBI, were the only players from Region 9 chosen for the D3baseball.com All-America First Team. The website named All-America first, second, third, fourth, and fifth teams for 2022, and Lord and Hanson are the only MIAC players on any of those five squads.
Carleton Baseball All-Americans
1949 -- August Schlaffer, OF – Middle-West All-American
1989 -- John Nielson, DH - ABCA/Rawlings first team
1991 -- John Nielson, UTIL - ABCA/Rawlings third team
2016 -- Hayden Tsutsui, C/OF - ABCA/Rawlings first team
2016 -- Hayden Tsutsui, C/OF - D3baseball.com second team
2022 -- Kiefer Lord, RHP - D3baseball.com first team
