JU's Flores Headlines Baseball Postseason Honor Roll
CHICAGO --- St. Ambrose University and Saint Xavier University – the two teams that battled through two tournament championship games – came away toting the most awards when the 2026 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference baseball postseason honor roll was announced on Monday afternoon. Both teams gained a total of nine selections with Judson University one spot back with eight.
Indiana University South Bend was next in line with six honorees, followed by Olivet Nazarene University and University of St. Francis with five each. The rest of the 47 awards presented went to Trinity Christian College (three) and Calumet College of St. Joseph and Viterbo University (one each).
Both St. Ambrose and Saint Xavier also garnered the most first team all-conference choices with four each with the latter producing the most all-league selections overall with seven. Judson had the most second team picks with four. The two all-conference teams were broken up into a 17-member first unit and 16 on the second squad.
St. Ambrose secured two of the four top individual awards, as well, while the Fighting Bees, St. Francis, Saint Xavier and Indiana South Bend each had two individuals represented on the nine-member Gold Glove Team.
Judson's Kevin Flores (Dominican Republic) captured the sport's top prize as the CCAC Player of the Year after leading the league in ten offensive categories. He currently ranks first in hits (72), runs scored (56), total bases (118) and batting average (.398), while earning runner-up distinction in triples (four) and slugging percentage (.652).
The senior outfielder also boasts the third-most doubles (17) and runs batted in (47), is fifth in home runs (seven) and has the ninth-best on-base percentage (.459).
Flores was also one of three players named to the all-conference first team for the second year in a row. He was joined by Viterbo outfielder Xavier Gilmore (Washougal, Wash.) and St. Francis catcher Jake Merda (Chicago, Ill.).
Besides the three all-conference first team repeat selections, St. Francis' Max Montgomery (Orland Park, Ill.) earned his second straight spot on the Gold Glove Team.
Four chart-topping spots on the leaderboard helped St. Ambrose's Dominic Guzman (Crystal Lake, Ill.) notch CCAC Pitcher of the Year accolades. The senior leads the league in games started (13), shutouts (two), strikeouts (110) and strikeouts per game (13.4), while ranking second in wins (eight, against just one loss) and innings pitched (73 2/3), fourth in earned run average (2.93) and seventh in complete games with three.
Recognized as the CCAC Freshman of the Year was Olivet Nazarene's Landon Holt (Liberty Township, Ohio). The infielder's most impressive mark is his 44 runs batted in, which ranks sixth in the conference. He also averages one hit per game (50 in 50 games) and has registered 11 doubles and four home runs.
Rounding out the list of individual award winners was St. Ambrose's Tony Huntley, who was honored as the CCAC Coach of the Year. The third-year head coach led SAU to its first regular-season conference title since 2008 and its first tournament crown since 2017. The Fighting Bees head to the NAIA World Series Opening Round sporting a 32-20 record.
For the complete list of award winners, go to Awards.