Brian Kolb is the most decorated position player in the history of Wheaton baseball. He was named an All-American by both D3baseball.com and the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) in 2008, becoming the program's first All-American in 44 years. Fifteen years after his graduation, he still holds six Wheaton career offensive records: batting average (.450); hits (270); doubles (56); slugging percentage (.640); on-base percentage (.517); and total bases (384). His .450 (270-500) career batting average ranks 20
th in the history of NCAA Division III baseball. Kolb has four of Wheaton's top-seven batting averages in a regular season, and he never hit lower than .418 in any of his four seasons with the Thunder.
From March 20, 2008 to March 31, 2009, Kolb compiled a 39-game hit streak that still ranks 10
th in Division III history, seventh in D3 history at the time. He recorded a streak of 50-consecutive games of reaching base (March 20, 2008 to April 9, 2009) that is 12
th in Division III history and was fifth at the time it occurred.
In his record-setting sophomore campaign in 2008, Kolb set a Wheaton single-season record with a .527 (77-for-146) batting average that led Division III that year, as he was honored as the 2008 CCIW Player of the Year and the Central Region Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). His 77 hits that season is still a Wheaton single-season record, as he hit a school-record 19 doubles and added six home runs, with 52 RBI and 45 runs scored. He also stole 25 bases in 25 attempts that season, a mark that tied the school single-season record and is still second today. A shortstop throughout his Thunder career, he also excelled in the field that season with a .988 fielding percentage with just two errors in 165 total chances. In the final two weeks of the 2008 regular season, Kolb hit an astonishing .639 (23-for-36), including 10 extra-base hits, scoring 10 runs, with 21 RBI across Wheaton's seven games as he helped propel the Thunder to their first CCIW Baseball Tournament appearance.
Kolb says of the 2008 season, "I am proud of the .527 batting average and First Team All-America accolades. I am also proud of the career batting average of .450 which shows consistency." He adds, "Outside of the individual records, I am proud to be part of the class that at the time of graduation, had the record for most victories."
In 2010 Kolb tied his own single-season doubles record with 19 and had 72 hits, just five shy of his own single-season record from 2008. He established a new single-season record that season with 57 runs scored. Seven of Kolb's single-season records still stand in the Wheaton record books today: 77 hits (2008); .527 batting average (2008); 57 runs scored (2010); 19 doubles (2008 & 2010); .808 slugging percentage (2008); .559 on-base percentage (2008); and 1.000 stolen base percentage (2008).
Brian earned his bachelor's degree in business/economics from Wheaton in 2010. Following graduation, he went on to play professional baseball in northwest Indiana for the Gary Railcats, helping lead them to the 2013 American Association Championship. Brian serves as the Director of US Airfreight Route Development for DHL. Today, he and his wife Michal reside in Wheaton with their four children: Mikaela, Elaine, Levi, and E'lani.
