Adkins and Targgart Named NAIA All-Americans
KANSAS CITY – The Taylor University baseball program added a pair of NAIA All-American honors on Tuesday, as Jared Adkins and Nathan Targgart each claimed spots on the 2017 NAIA Baseball Honorable Mention All-American Team.
Adkins and Targgart boost the number of total NAIA All-Americans earned by Taylor during the 2016-2017 year to 21 and give the baseball program three such honors in the past two years, after Lincoln Reed earned Honorable Mention All-American honors last season. Adkins and Targgart also became the first duo to make the list for Taylor since Rhett Goodmiller and Ryne Otis did so in 2012.
Adkins added the Honorable Mention All-American honor to a lengthy list of 2017 awards for the breakout junior that also includes Crossroads League Player-of-the-Year honors, a CoSIDA Academic All-District nod and an NAIA Scholar-Athlete award. The second baseman hit .333 with 74 runs, 16 doubles, three triples, 16 home runs, 50 runs batted in, 33 stolen bases in 35 attempts, a .671 slugging percentage and a 1.110 OPS (on-base plus slugging).
Along with setting Taylor's single-season records for most home runs and steals, Adkins led the Crossroads League in runs scored, home runs, stolen bases and slugging percentage, while rating No. 8 in the NAIA in runs, No. 18 in steals and No. 27 in homers.
Targgart joined Adkins on the Honorable Mention All-American list after posting a second-straight All-Crossroads League season to open his career with the Trojans. The slugging sophomore third baseman hit .410 with 47 runs, 152 total bases, 26 doubles, 10 home runs, 63 runs batted in, a .664 slugging percentage, a .450 on-base percentage and a 1.114 OPS, while setting TU single-season records for hits and doubles and becoming the only sophomore to earn CoSIDA Academic All-District II honors for his work in the classroom.
The impressive stat line helped Targgart lead all Crossroads League hitters in batting average, hits, total bases, doubles and runs batted in, while ranking second in slugging, fifth in homers and top-10 in runs scored and on-base percentage. Targgart also rattled off a 34-game hit streak, hit safely in 51-of-56 games, ranked No. 2 in the NAIA in doubles, No. 6 with 1.7 hits per game and No. 19 in total bases.
Adkins, Targgart and the Trojans ended the 2017 season with a 35-21 mark, notching a 10th-straight winning season and setting program records for runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, runs batted in, slugging percentage and stolen bases. TU also excelled in classroom, leading the NAIA with four CoSIDA Academic All-District nods and ranking second in the NAIA with eight scholar-athletes.