GREENSBORO, N.C. – Connor King of the University of Sioux Falls Baseball Team is one of nine NCAA DII players named to the 2021 ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove team, as recently announced by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings Sporting Goods.

 

King, a redshirt sophomore from Rapid City, S.D., is the only student-athlete honored from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference for his defensive prowess. King, who was one of three outfielders honored, was earlier named to the All-NSIC Defensive Team for the 2021 season. Click here for the ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award announcement.

The Rawlings Gold Glove winners have been selected since 2007 in the collegiate and high school ranks, featuring many future Major League Baseball players. The Gold Glove Awards are selected by ABCA coaches committee.  

"I am very proud of Connor (King)," said USF Head Baseball Coach Grant Hieb, noting that King is the first in program history to earn the national Gold Glove honor. "Since the first day he stepped onto the USF campus, he has worked as hard as he could to be the everyday center fielder for us. He is a tremendous athlete and fierce competitor. This year, he had an outstanding season. I don't know how many times he put his body on the line to make a play for his team. He is the kind of player a head coach wishes he had at every position. He will be fun to watch over the next couple of years," said Hieb.
 
An elementary education major and two-time Academic All-NSIC honoree, King helped lead USF to its best season at the DII level with a 21-21 overall record and a 16-19 conference record. The Cougars ended their season after a run in the first round of the NSIC Postseason Tournament, which was USF's second time making the tournament (2016). USF's 21 wins in the season tied the 2016 squad for most wins.

In 44 games in the 2021 season, King excelled for USF as he fielded at 1.000 percent, including 93 putouts, six assists, and no errors, while making numerous dazzling plays in the outfield. From the batter's box, King hit .293 on the season, with 41 runs on 43 hits in 147 at bats. He totaled five doubles, two triples, two home runs, 19 RBI, and 58 total bases. King totaled 11 multi-hit games this season, (one four-hit game, five three-hit games, five two-hit games) and five multi-RBI games (five two-RBI games). 

Over the last 25 games of the season, he led USF to a 14-11 record as he hit .352 with 31 hits, 25 runs, three doubles, two triples, two home runs, 12 RBI, 42 total bases and had a .477 slugging mark and a team-best .491 on-base percentage. In that span, King had 54 putouts and four assists in patrolling center field.

Dating to USF's last 61 games, King has not committed an error. In his career, he has made 230 putouts with 16 assists and just five errors in 102 games with 99 starts. At the plate, he has totaled three home runs, 40 RBI, 125 total bases, 95 hits in 237 at bats for a .285 average. He has accumulated 83 runs and 34 steals in 47 attempts.

King joined the Cougar family back in 2019, arriving at USF from Rapid City Stevens High School in Rapid City, SD. In his first season with the Coo, he hit .243 with one home run, 11 RBI, and a .304 slugging percentage. He stole 14 bases and had a .402 on-base percentage, which were both second best on the team. On defense, King had a .959 fielding percentage with 107 putouts and nine assists in the outfield. Overall, he played in 48 games with 47 starts, had 36 hits in 148 at bats with 33 runs scored, five extra base hits (two doubles, two triples, one home run), and 45 total bases.

In his sophomore season with USF, King led the team with a .390 average with 10 RBI and a .537 slugging percentage, which was good for second highest on the team. On the season, King stole six bases in six attempts and also led the team with a .581 OBP. On defense, King tallied a 1.000 fielding percentage with 30 putouts and one assist, while he played and started in all 13 games (season cut short due to COVID-19 pandemic). He had 16 hits in 41 at bats with nine runs scored, and he had two doubles and two triples with 22 total bases. King was walked a team-high 17 times and hit by a pitch three times. He had five multi-hit games (three two-hit games and two three-hit games) and three multi-RBI games (two two-RBI games and one three-RBI game), one of which came in the 6-5 win against #7 Ashland when he had a game-tying two-out three-run triple in the bottom of the 8th inning.  

The ABCA/Rawlings Award Program is one of the most comprehensive in all of sports, awarding All-America Teams and Gold Glove Teams in nine divisions of amateur baseball as well as All-Region Teams in five divisions. The ABCA/Rawlings All-America teams date back to 1949 starting with one collegiate All-America Team. Other divisions subsequently added until the current total of nine was reached. The first ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove teams were recognized in 2007, making this the 14th year the Rawlings Gold Glove Awards have been presented in the collegiate and high school ranks.