University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Baseball Grabs Two of Four Big Ten Awards
5/26/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Senior outfielder Sam Steidl (Alexandria, Minn.), sophomore first baseman Andy Hunter (West St. Paul, Minn.) and Perkins at starting pitcher all garnered First-Team All-Big Ten honors for the Golden Gophers. Minnesota also placed three players on Second-Team All-Big Ten, as freshman designated hitter Mike Mee (Richfield, Minn.), catcher Jake Elder (Delta, British Columbia) and senior righthander Craig Molldrem (Boscobel, Wis.) all claimed the honors. Sophomore second baseman Luke MacLean (Bloomington, Minn.), sophomore shortstop Matt Fornasiere (Maple Grove, Minn.) and junior third baseman David Hrncirik (Madison, Wis.) all claimed third-team all-conference honors for the Golden Gophers.
Perkins becomes the second Golden Gopher pitcher to win Big Ten Pitcher of the Year in the last three seasons. He joins C.J. Woodrow, who did so in 2002. Perkins enters the Big Ten Tournament with a career record of 16-0 against Big Ten opponents. He is 15-0 with a 2.09 ERA and 139 strikeouts in his two-year Big Ten career. The 139 strikeouts is a school record for the most in conference play. Perkins is also currently tied for second on the Minnesota list in Big Ten wins with 15, is fourth on the list in career conference ERA and is first in Big Ten winning percentage.
Coming into the Big Ten Tournament, Perkins is second in the Big Ten in ERA at 2.79, tied for first with eight wins, fourth in strikeouts with 91 and first in opponent batting average at .220. He also finished first in conference play in wins with seven, tied for first in conference play strikeouts and was first in ERA at 1.88. Perkins also became the first Gopher pitcher since Mike Kobow (2000-01 to claim First-Team All-Big Ten honors in back-to-back seasons.
Anderson is the first coach in Big Ten history to claim Conference Coach of the Year honors in three consecutive seasons. He has now won the honor in four of the last five seasons, after claiming it 2000, 2002 and 2003 as well. Anderson guided the Golden Gophers to their third straight Big Ten regular season title with a 21-10 conference record. He has also led Minnesota to 45 wins the last two seasons, which is the best two-year win total in the history of the Big Ten. Minnesota won the Big Ten title by two games this season, claiming it in the last game of a 31-game schedule. .
Steidl claimed First-Team All-Big Ten honors for second year in a row . Steidl, who has been named to on of the All-Big Ten teams in all four years of his career, led the Big Ten in hits (83), doubles (22) and runs scored (61) heading into the week. He was also fourth in batting average (.376) and second in stolen bases (20). Steidl enters the week second on the Minnesota all-time hits list (305), fourth in stolen bases (63), eighth in games played (225), sixth in runs scored (197), eighth in doubles (49) and ninth in career batting average (.363).
Hunter claimed first-team honors for the first time in his career, after being named second-team in 2003 as a redshirt freshman. Hunter has 46 RBI since Apr. 1 for Minnesota, and has collected RBI in 16 of his last 19 games. Over the span of the last 19 games, he has batted .478, with seven doubles, three home runs, 18 runs and 26 RBI. Hunter is second in the Big Ten with 59 RBI, along with a 372 batting average and a team-leading eight home runs. In Big Ten play, Hunter led the way with 35 RBI in conference play, was third in batting average at .394 and third in slugging percentage at .633. Hunter has tallied 63 RBI in 58 career Big Ten games.
Mee is fifth in the Big Ten in RBI at 49 and is ninth in hits with 70 as a redshirt freshman. Elder ended up batting .353 in Big Ten play, and tied for third in the Big Ten in conference home runs with six. Molldrem is tied for fifth in wins in the Big Ten at six, fifth in opponent batting average and is seventh in ERA at 3.38.
Fornasiere is fifth in the Big Ten in on-base percentage at .444, 10th in batting average at .356 and sixth in stolen bases at 14. MacLean, who is batting .449 in the month of May, is tied for 10th in the Big Ten with a .356 batting average, eighth in on-base percentage at .438 and ninth in runs with 45. David Hrncirk batted .306 in Big Ten play with seven steals and 14 RBI. The seven steals was tied for 10th in the Big Ten in conference play.
Overall, Minnesota placed nine players on the three All-Big Ten teams, and won two of the four honors by claiming Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and Coach of the Year.
