William Jewell College Athletics has announced the five individuals and one team that will be enshrined into the Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2026.

Among the former greats to be honored is Austin Kretchmar, a native of Okarche High School.

Kretchmar played two seasons for the Cardinals baseball program after transferring from Redlands Community College.

He appeared in 30 games at William Jewell, located in Liberty, Mo., in 2015 and 2016.

Of those appearances, Kretchmar had 28 starts and was 18-7 over that span.

During his junior campaign, Kretchmar was the No. 1 starter and was 9-3 with a 2.66 earned run average in 16 appearances.

He led William Jewell to the program’s first appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

That season, he struck out 53 batters over 98 innings of work on his way to first-team All-GLVC honors, the first Cardinal to do so.

As a senior, he boasted a 3.07 ERA in 14 games (91 innings pitched) with 63 strikeouts.

Over two seasons, he was twice named to the All-GLVC first team and was a member of three all-region second-team squads, twice as a junior (NCBWA & D2SIDA) and once as a senior (ABCA).

He graduated as the Cardinals NCAA-era leader in career ERA (2.34) and wins (18) and single season innings pitched (98).

Kretchmar landed at William Jewell after earning conference Player of the Year honors at Redlands in 2014.

He was named a thirdteam All-American that year by the NJCAA.

Kretchmar was 61-13 on the mound for Okarche High School.

He played in six state tournaments in baseball and helped lead the Warriors to three state finals appearances in the spring of 2010 and 2011 and fall of 2010.

Kretchmar earned All-State honors in his senior season of 2012.

He also played in four basketball state tournaments for the Warriors.

The son of Mike and Laurie Kretchmar of Okarche, Austin and his wife, Jess, have a 1-year-old son, Cole.

They currently live in Overland Park, Kan., where he is a financial planner for Creative One.