2017-18 Great Midwest Male Collegiate Achievement Award Winner
Justin Childers
Ohio Dominican
Baseball – First Baseman
Pickerington, OH (Pickerington North HS)
As a self-proclaimed Mike Trout and Boston Red Sox fan, the mashing righty may soon be able to pursue his dreams of being in the big leagues as a Major League Baseball Amateur Draft hopeful.
Childers has done almost everything imaginable on the diamond to raise his stock during his four-year career in Columbus for Ohio Dominican, taking the Panthers’ baseball program to unprecedented heights.
Ohio Dominican recently made a run into the NCAA Championship Midwest Region final, winning four consecutive games in the loser’s bracket against Hillsdale, Ashland, Quincy and top seed Illinois Springfield.
The Panthers were one of 16 teams remaining in the national tournament bracket and won the Great Midwest North Division title after making the national tourney as a No. 4 seed with an at-large selection. Childers earned Great Midwest Player of the Year honors and by the end of the conference playoffs, was the league leader in batting average, runs, triples, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
He was the D2CCA Midwest Region Player of the Year for the second time in his career and is a candidate for additional national honors as a finalist for the Tino Martinez Award and with several ballots still being voted on.
Through 37 games in 2018, Childers was the national league leader in runs scored per game (1.63), second in on-base percentage, seventh in slugging percentage, eighth in batting average and top 25 in triples.
In the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), Childers was also the player of the year and was a consensus DII All-American from three different publications (D2CCA, ASCA, NCBWA).
He also made an impact on his community through several organizations including the Challenge League, Royal Reader Program, STRIDE Adaptive Sports and the All-Star Academy. He assisted with reading development of students at Royal Manor Elementary School since 2014 and has been working with over 200 kids to work on their baseball and softball skills as a summer camp counselor.
Childers received his degree from Ohio Dominican in Finance & Accounting/Economics while receiving multiple all-conference academic honors throughout his career while holding a 3.46 GPA.