Ruth sets NCAA career hits record

During the CCS Postseason Semifinals (May 11), LC graduate student Joe Ruth crushed a grand slam—breaking the NCAA Division III Career Hits record (354). Once the season was said and done, he finished with a total of 356 hits.

Since joining the team in 2018, Ruth ’21, M’24 has been dominant on the diamond. During his rookie season, he was the only Panther to play in all 44 games, finishing with team-high RBIs (44), hits (64), total bases (79), stolen bases (15) and sacrifice flies (7).

In 2021, Ruth made his first waves on the national stage. In this junior season, he led NCAA Division III in sacrifice flies (10), led the USA South in doubles (16) and tied for the team lead in hits (50), runs scored (43) and multiple RBI games (11).

During the LC National Championship run of 2022, he broke the DIII season hits record (109), making him the third DIII player to ever account for 100 hits in a season. Ruth would earn spots on the ABCA/Rawlings All-America First Team, D3baseball.com All-America First Team, ABCA/Rawlings All-Region 6 Team, D3baseball.com All-Region 6 First Team, ABCA/Rawlings All-Region 6 First Team and USA South All-Conference First Team and was the All-Region 6 Player of the Year for D3baseball.com and USA South Player of the Year.

Ruth carried this success into 2023, finishing with 68 hits, 50 RBIs, 35 runs, 18 doubles, three triples and three homers while posting a superb .402 hitting average. This earned him a spot on the D3baseball.com All-Region Region 6 Team and the 2023 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Div. III All-Region Region 6 Team and won him CCS Player of the Year.

Despite being out for a month due to an injury in his final season, Ruth would still record 40 hits, crowning him the all-time DIII hits leader.

“LaGrange College is so special to me,” Ruth said. “I am grateful for the LaGrange community, the whole student body, the faculty and of course, the baseball program.”