Colton Book and Owen Petrich Earn ABCA All-Region Honors
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Saint Joseph's pitcher Colton Book and third baseman Owen Petrich earned All-East Region accolades from the American Baseball Coaches Association on Tuesday. Book was named to the All-Region First Team while Petrich was tabbed for the Second Team.
Book was previously voted the Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year and earned First Team All-Atlantic 10 honors after turning in one of the finest seasons by a hurler in Hawk history. A four-time Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week and named the College Baseball Foundation's National Pitcher of the Week on February 25, he spent the season ranked among the top three in Division I in strikeouts before finishing the regular season fifth in the nation.
The Manheim, Pennsylvania, native is the first pitcher in Saint Joseph's history to strike out 100 batters in a season, setting a new program record with 122 punchouts for the year, and fanned 13 or more on four different occasions. Ranking in the top 12 in the country in both WHIP and strikeouts-per-nine-innings at the end of the regular season, he also showed his durability by throwing at least six innings in 10 of his starts, with five starts of seven frames or more. He also earned plaudits for his work in the classroom as he was named the Philly-SIDA Academic All-Area Performer of the Year.
Petrich, the only Hawk to play in and start all 52 games, ranked among the Atlantic 10 leaders in home runs, runs batted in, slugging percentage, and OPS in conference play. He led the Hawks in hits, home runs, RBI and slugging while tying for the team lead in runs scored in 2025. Petrich recorded a 17-game hitting streak this season, the longest on the team, and he was named the Atlantic 10 Player of the Week on April 21.
A product of Doylestown, Pa., Petrich tied a program record with three home runs in one game against Davidson on April 18; over his two seasons on Hawk Hill, his 26 home runs rank him fifth all-time in program history.
As a First Team All-Region honoree, Book is eligible for selection to the ABCA All-America Team, to be announced later this week.
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