Marist sophomore first baseman/outfielder Ethan Conrad recently etched himself into the NCAA record books with one of the most impressive feats in baseball history: setting the single-game record for most triples in an NCAA game with four.
The feat occurred during the first game of a three-game set in Jersey City, N.J., while Marist was facing Saint Peter’s on March 22. Conrad went 4-5 from the plate, with all four his four knocks being registered as triples.
Triple number one came in the fourth, scoring a runner and putting Marist on top 1-0. Triples two, three and four all came in back-to-back-to-back innings. In the seventh inning, Conrad once again brought home a run-scoring graduate student outfielder Johnny Decker. In the eighth, his three-bagger scored redshirt junior infielder Marco Ali to advance the lead to 12-2.
Conrad’s NCAA record-breaker came in the ninth, where this time he scored both Ali and Decker. For his historic performance, Conrad was named MAAC Player of the Week:
As of 2021 records, the last player to hit three triples in one outing was a March 24, 2015, game when Winthrop’s Brad Kaczka tripled three times to beat The Citadel 11-4.
Raking in four triples in one game has never happened before in the Division I ranks of NCAA Baseball. In fact, in the MLB, it has only happened twice before, once in 1885 by Philadelphia Athletics second baseman/outfielder George Strief, the again in 1897 by New York Giants player/manager, Bill Joyce.
Needless to say, it has been a while since Conrad’s feat occurred on the diamond. In the majors, it is less rare to have a 4 HR game (18 occurrences), a perfect game (27 occurrences) or an unassisted triple play (15 occurrences).
“I hit the fourth [triple] and said to my friends… that’s gotta be a record, if it’s not I’d be surprised,” said Conrad.
Conrad mentioned his teammates initially expressing doubt that his performance had been record-breaking in nature, prompting him to look for himself.
“I ended up getting on the bus, I looked at my phone and I checked and I saw the [previous] record was three,” said Conrad.
For Conrad’s inner circle, the news of his record-breaking performance caused quite a stir, with many people reaching out to send their congratulations.
“Teammates and coaches [were] telling me how crazy it is,” said Conrad. “Past coaches, to teammates, to past teammates and my parents, they were all really excited.”
For the 2023 All-MAAC Rookie Team selectee, he is still more focused on the season at-large, but believes that his hitting approach and speed will help him earn many more triples in the future. After all, Conrad did finish a team-high 19-20 on stolen bases a season ago on a Marist squad that finished 14th in the nation in stolen bases, proving that he has the speed required to leg it out from the batter’s box to third base.
“If I hit the ball in the gap, I’ll probably end up on third. But it’s all about just hitting it in the right spot,” said Conrad.
News of Conrad’s unique rarity of an accomplishment was one of, if not the most uncommon things to happen in any sport… ever! For Marist fans, Poughkeepsie natives, or baseball stat junkies, March 22, 2024 will be cemented as the day Conrad made history.
Edited by Ben Leeds and Luke Sassa
Photo from Raegan Van Zandt
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