By Travis Rosenau trosenau@nujournal.com NEW ULM — To lead a team in hitting during a season of college baseball is a testament to a player’s work ethic and talent. To lead an entire college division in hitting, however, is an elite accomplishment. Martin Luther College 2024 grad Mason Cox was officially recognized this week as the nation’s 2024 batting champion in Division III after his .469 batting average in 33 games with the Knights. With his strong senior year, Cox became the first MLC baseball player in program history to lead the nation in a statistical category. “I’m just super grateful that God had given me these talents to use them ... and the teammates ans family that helped me do it,” Cox said. “Earning this award, I kind of hoped to put the UMAC and MLC a little bit more on the map. “It meant a lot obviously individually, but for all my friends and family and the school, it just meant that much to them, too, and I was really thankful for it.” While Cox had family and friends keeping him updated on his soaring batting average throughout the season, he wasn’t aware he officially the DIII batting champ until a few weeks ago. “I had some close friends and my mom actually a little bit was kind of keeping an eye on it,” Cox said. “Soon as the season ended, I didn’t really keep track of it. And then I got asked about it by my mom if I knew and a couple close buddies and that was a few weeks ago.” Cox, a 2020 Minnesota Valley Lutheran grad, outdid Nick Marshall of Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Jacob Charon of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, who both finished their seasons with a .468 batting average. Cox’s batting champion season not only put his name in the record books, but it also put MLC at the top of a list of 389 DIII baseball programs nationwide. The Knights, competing in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, didn’t capture as many wins as they would have liked on the diamond in 2024 as they finished 7-27 overall and 4-17 in the UMAC. However, Cox was unwavering in his efforts to do what he could to bring success to the team. Cox credited keeping his head in the game to his parents, his teammates and other athletes at MLC. “I guess the biggest thing is my dad and my mom,” Cox said. “My parents were the biggest ones to know when I’d feel down, they’d be right there right away, they’d be the first to hear about it. But also having this amazing support from the teammates and not even baseball teammates, but fellow athletes at MLC ... like both of my roommates. Kind of the culture, everyone knows each other at MLC, so to constantly get support from whether it be faculty, staff, other students, it just really helped me keep my head up.” SUNY New Paltz’s Tommy Kreider ended up finishing fourth in the nation in DIII batting average (.466), while Gustavus Adolphus College’s Chris Knowles, a 2020 New Ulm Cathedral grad, finished fifth with a .456 batting average. Cox, who hit .476 in 2022 to set the MLC program record for batting average in a single season, finished his career with a program record in hits (170), home runs (12), batting average (.431) and OBP (.499). He also had 75 RBIs, third all-time at MLC, in 115 games played. This past season, Cox also set the MLC single-season record in home runs (5), hits (60), runs scored (32) and triples (6). Cox also played three years of football for the Knights during his time at MLC and finished with 93 receptions for 1,485 yards and six touchdowns. “I can’t thank MLC enough for first of all letting me play football and baseball there, that was a big one,” Cox said. “Baseball wise, even though it wasn’t the most successful seasons over the time, I just enjoyed how I could see players around me develop and how I could spend time and just realize these guys are grinding out with me. They know we’re not the most successful, we don’t have the most wins, but they show up every day. The grit that these guys played with was just crazy. I think that was the best thing, outside of baseball, is just making better people through MLC athletics.” Cox, moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, earlier this July to become a graduate assistant baseball coach at Wisconsin Lutheran College. He, along with MLC, will each receive a plaque for his batting championship.

NEW ULM — To lead a team in hitting during a season of college baseball is a testament to a player’s work ethic and talent.

To lead an entire college division in hitting, however, is an elite accomplishment.

Martin Luther College 2024 grad Mason Cox was officially recognized this week as the nation’s 2024 batting champion in Division III after his .469 batting average in 33 games with the Knights. With his strong senior year, Cox became the first MLC baseball player in program history to lead the nation in a statistical category.

“I’m just super grateful that God had given me these talents to use them … and the teammates ans family that helped me do it,” Cox said. “Earning this award, I kind of hoped to put the UMAC and MLC a little bit more on the map.

“It meant a lot obviously individually, but for all my friends and family and the school, it just meant that much to them, too, and I was really thankful for it.”

While Cox had family and friends keeping him updated on his soaring batting average throughout the season, he wasn’t aware he officially the DIII batting champ until a few weeks ago.

“I had some close friends and my mom actually a little bit was kind of keeping an eye on it,” Cox said. “Soon as the season ended, I didn’t really keep track of it. And then I got asked about it by my mom if I knew and a couple close buddies and that was a few weeks ago.”

Cox, a 2020 Minnesota Valley Lutheran grad, outdid Nick Marshall of Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Jacob Charon of Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, who both finished their seasons with a .468 batting average.

Cox’s batting champion season not only put his name in the record books, but it also put MLC at the top of a list of 389 DIII baseball programs nationwide.

The Knights, competing in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference, didn’t capture as many wins as they would have liked on the diamond in 2024 as they finished 7-27 overall and 4-17 in the UMAC. However, Cox was unwavering in his efforts to do what he could to bring success to the team.

Cox credited keeping his head in the game to his parents, his teammates and other athletes at MLC.

“I guess the biggest thing is my dad and my mom,” Cox said. “My parents were the biggest ones to know when I’d feel down, they’d be right there right away, they’d be the first to hear about it. But also having this amazing support from the teammates and not even baseball teammates, but fellow athletes at MLC … like both of my roommates. Kind of the culture, everyone knows each other at MLC, so to constantly get support from whether it be faculty, staff, other students, it just really helped me keep my head up.”

SUNY New Paltz’s Tommy Kreider ended up finishing fourth in the nation in DIII batting average (.466), while Gustavus Adolphus College’s Chris Knowles, a 2020 New Ulm Cathedral grad, finished fifth with a .456 batting average.

Cox, who hit .476 in 2022 to set the MLC program record for batting average in a single season, finished his career with a program record in hits (170), home runs (12), batting average (.431) and OBP (.499). He also had 75 RBIs, third all-time at MLC, in 115 games played.

This past season, Cox also set the MLC single-season record in home runs (5), hits (60), runs scored (32) and triples (6). Cox also played three years of football for the Knights during his time at MLC and finished with 93 receptions for 1,485 yards and six touchdowns.

“I can’t thank MLC enough for first of all letting me play football and baseball there, that was a big one,” Cox said. “Baseball wise, even though it wasn’t the most successful seasons over the time, I just enjoyed how I could see players around me develop and how I could spend time and just realize these guys are grinding out with me. They know we’re not the most successful, we don’t have the most wins, but they show up every day. The grit that these guys played with was just crazy. I think that was the best thing, outside of baseball, is just making better people through MLC athletics.”

Cox, moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, earlier this July to become a graduate assistant baseball coach at Wisconsin Lutheran College. He, along with MLC, will each receive a plaque for his batting championship.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

• Daily Newsletter
• Breaking News
• Obituaries

Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper?

• Yes
• No