KEENE, N.H. – A season stuffed with recognitions for junior Keene State College baseball outfielder Tommy Ahlers has one more: All-American.

The Salem, N.H. native was named a fourth team All-American by D3baseball.com on Wednesday, joining his All-Region first team honors by both D3baseball.com as well as the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings and Little East Conference Player of the Year.

Ahlers is the first All-American from the Owls' baseball program since 2016, when Cody Dube – an eventual 10th round Major League Baseball draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles – was named to the D3baseball.com third team.  He is the fourth All-American in program history, and next season will have a chance to become just the second multi-time All-American, joining Bobby Doyon who received the honor in 2009 (first team D3baseball.com, second team ABCA) and 2010 (honorable mention D3baseball.com).

"It is an incredible honor to be selected as an All-American," said Ahlers.  "A lot of hard work and grit went into the offseason trying to get myself better and it paid off.  A huge thanks to Coach Blood for helping me get here and turning me into a baseball player over the past few years, and for keeping me humble through all of this year's success."

Ahlers played in all 42 games for the Owls and hit .426 with an impressive 1.148 OPS, finishing with 13 doubles, four triples, seven home runs, and 48 RBI while reaching base at a .473 clip.  He led the Little East Conference in both average and hits, at one point compiling a 24-game hitting streak.

"Even though I get the recognition for this one, I wouldn't have been able to do this without my teammates," added Ahlers, who had multi-hit games in exactly half of the games this season as KSC won the Little East Conference regular season championship outright and their first league tournament title since 2008.  "They helped me get to where I am and do their job to give me opportunities to make plays.  I am thankful for this group of guys that I have around me and I don't think I could have done it without them."

Ahlers has been part of a major program turnaround for the Owls, who won 13 games in the freshman seasons of the current 17-member junior class which will aim to defend their league title while making more regional and national noise next season.

Head coach Justin Blood has presided over the program turnaround, inheriting the team after a 3-19 Covid season in 2021.

"We are all really happy for Tommy to receive this level of recognition," the fourth-year head coach of the Owls said.  "He is a motivated and driven individual, and those qualities have certainly helped him improve every year in all facets of the game.  Tommy had a tremendous season and has put himself in a position to truly leave his mark on the program and hopefully get an opportunity to play this game beyond college."

The 18th annual D3baseball.com All-America teams featured 16 selections across five teams, including one catcher, one first baseman, one second baseman, one shortstop, one third baseman, three outfielders, one designated hitter, one utility position player, four starting pitchers, one relief pitcher, and one utility arm – essentially recognizing the top 80 players in NCAA Division III after beginning with a nomination pool over more than 1,000 athletes.