CHICAGO -- The University of St. Francis gained one spot on the all-league team and five of nine positions on the Gold Glove Team when the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference announced its 2025 baseball postseason honor roll on Thursday afternoon.

Junior catcher Jake Merda earned placement on the All-Conference First Team, while teammates Max Montgomery, Drew Dant, Sean Michalak, Cliff Vickers and Jake Klepacz were all named to the Gold Glove Team.

Merda finished among the top three performers for USF in 11 offensive categories leading to his placement on the 17-member first team.  He boasted a team-leading .336 batting average and five sacrifice flies, while tying for top team honors in triples with two.

Other high-water marks for Merda included his 50 hits, eight doubles, 68 total bases, .456 slugging percentage and .406 on-base percentage, all of which ranked second-best on the club.  He also finished third in OPS (.862) and home runs (2).  His other numbers included 24 RBIs and 15 walks.

Among all players in the league, Tesch ranked tied for seventh in home runs per game (0.15) and tenth in both runs batted in per contest (0.88) and total bases per game (1.90).

Defensively, he fielded at a .971 clip with 145 putouts and 25 assists, while also throwing 24 base stealers out from behind the plate.

Montgomery, Dant, Michalak, Vickers and Klepacz all received Gold Glove honors for the first time in their careers in helping the Saints reach a league best team fielding percentage of .964.

Montgomery, a second baseman, totaled 77 assists and 110 putouts for a .969 fielding mark, while Dant chipped in 36 putouts and a team-leading 85 assists to produce a .903 percentage from the third base position.  Michalak, meanwhile, did not author a single error from the mound in his 27 chances.  Vickers (93 putouts, 1.000 fielding percentage) and Klepacz (105 putouts, 2 assists, .991 fielding average) manned the outfield, with Vickers receiving the award for left field, while Klepacz claimed the honor for right field.

The Fighting Saints went 21-29 overall and 17-15 in conference play this spring to finish in a tie for sixth place among the league's nine teams.

For the all-conference release, go to CCAC.  For the complete awards list, go to List.

You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.