Professional baseball player and Class of 2001 graduate David Freese announced he would retire from baseball on Oct. 12.

“As I move forward with the next phase of my life, I am forever grateful to all of you and the game of baseball,” Freese wrote in a post on his Twitter account.

During his 11-season career, Freese played for the St. Louis Cardinals, the Los Angeles Angels, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Los Angeles Dodgers. His retirement comes after the Dodgers lost 7-3 against the Washington Nationals on Oct. 9 and were eliminated from the rest of the Major League Baseball (MLB) postseason.

At Lafayette, Freese scored 23 home runs and amassed a .533 batting average during his senior year, breaking the school records for both.

Freese is best known for scoring a walk-off home run in Game 6 of the 2011 World Series. The Cardinals would win Game 7 and name Freese as World Series MVP.

In his announcement, Freese mentioned the game, writing “11in11,” a reference to the Cardinals winning their eleventh World Series in 2011.

Freese thanked every MLB team he had played for, as well as the San Diego Padres, who selected him in the 2006 MLB draft and sent him to the Minor League.

“Padres, Cardinals, Angels, Pirates and Dodgers,” he wrote. “You took a 23-year-old kid out of college and pushed him to 36. Can’t thank you enough for that. Needed it.”