University of Vermont Athletic Hall of Fame
Wade Rikert 2000 - Baseball
One of the top centerfielders in America East and the East, Wade Rikert, a 2010 Athletic Hall of Fame inductee, was one of the top hitters to ever play for UVM as well as one of the best defensive outfielders to grace the Centennial Field diamond.
Wade, like his brother Kyle, was a product of one of the smaller high schools in Vermont and worked very hard to make the jump to Division I athletics. The first baseball player to win the J. Edward Donnelly Award, given to the top male student-athlete in the UVM senior class, Rikert led the Cats to four straight seasons of at least 20 wins for the first time in the 113-year history of the program.
He started in right field his freshman year as the team reached the conference title game. As a sophomore he was fifth in the conference in hitting and earned all-tournament honors. The next season he was second-team all-conference while recording his 51st stolen base, breaking the Vermont career record that had stood for nearly 30 seasons. He also set new single-season records for steals (27) and runs scored (51).
As a senior he hit .404 and he became the Catamount all-time hits leader with 177 against Towson on April 15. As a senior Rikert also set a new UVM record for consecutive stolen bases without getting caught (23). After a big senior season he was named to the America East First Team All-Conference, ABCA All-Northeast Region First Team, ABCA Third Team All-American, NEIBA All-New England Team, and was the team’s most valuable player. He also earned his second appearance on the America East All-Championship Team as a senior, after also making it during his sophomore season.
When Rikert graduated he ranked first all-time at Vermont in stolen bases (79), hits (202), and runs scored (150), posted the second-highest career batting average (.361), was third in runs batted in (100), fourth in home runs (13) and fifth in doubles (33). After playing in 166 career games in a Catamount uniform, Rikert signed with the Toronto Blue Jays as a non-drafted free agent.
