WICHITA, Kan. – Ike Irish has been named a semifinalist for the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award, the Wichita Sports Commission announced this week.
Irish is one of sixteen catchers nationally, including three from the Southeastern Conference, to earn the distinction. He is the first Auburn catcher to be named a semifinalist for the award.
Earlier this week, Irish became Auburn's second position player since 2011 to earn First Team All-SEC honors, joining Sonny DiChiara (2022) on the short list. He was previously named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List.
A sophomore from Hudsonville, Michigan, Irish led the Tigers in average (.319) and RBI (59) and tied for the team lead in home runs (14). His 59 RBI were tied for the eighth most in the conference and tied for the fourth most by an Auburn player since 2010. Along with his production at the plate, Irish tied for third in the league with nine runners caught stealing and added an outfield assist. He started 24 games at catcher, 11 games as the designated hitter and 10 games in right field.
Irish became the fourth fastest player in program history to record his 100th career hit earlier this season, doing so in his 68th game played with a first-inning homer against UConn on Mar. 2. He trails only Scott Pratt (61 games), Todd Faulkner (63 games) and Tim Hudson (66 games) on the list.
