May 23, 2006

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PARK RIDGE, Ill. -- The Big Ten office announced the 2006 All-Big Ten Baseball Teams and individual honors today on the eve of conference tournament play, as Northwestern and Ohio State split the individual postseason awards.  The Buckeyes picked up both Player and Freshman of the Year honors, with third baseman Ronnie Bourquin and J.B. Shuck earning the awards, respectively.  Northwestern's Dan Brauer was selected the Pitcher of the Year by the league coaches, while Wildcat mentor Paul Stevens was named Coach of the Year.

Bourquin, a three-time Big Ten Player of the Week selection this season, becomes the fourth Buckeye to ever be voted as the conference's top player.  He joins Jonathan Sweet (1994), Dan Seimetz (1997) and Steve Caravati (2004) as OSU standouts who have been honored with the annual award since 1982.  In all games this season, Bourquin led the conference in hitting (.426), slugging percentage (.629), on-base percentage (.502), hits (86), runs batted in (66) and total bases (127), while ranking second in walks (31) and tied for third in home runs (8).  

Brauer is just the second Wildcat hurler to be honored as the league's top pitcher, as Chad Schroeder became the first NU standout selected in 1995.  A three-time Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honoree, Brauer led the league in conference-games only in wins (7) and strikeouts (56), including strikeouts looking (23), and was fifth in the Big Ten with a 2.22 earned run average and an opposing batting average of .224.  Brauer, who also led the league with 90 strikeouts for all games played, posted the Wildcats' first no-hitter since 1999 against Michigan State two weeks ago.  

Shuck continued the streak of impressive Buckeye rookies as the newcomer became the ninth Ohio State player to be named the conference's Freshman of the Year, since the award's inception 19 years ago in 1988.  A utility player for the majority of the season, Shuck shined on the mound, recording an overall ERA of 2.18 and seven total wins, which were both the second-best marks in the league.  He also hit .336 on the season and totaled 19 RBIs.

Northwestern's Stevens, who was voted the top skipper in 1991 and 1995, coached his Wildcat ballclub to an impressive 21-11 (.656) mark in league play and came within two wins of NU's first conference championship since 1957.

As for the All-Big Ten Teams, three league standouts were able to repeat their first team selections from a year ago in Iowa's relief pitcher Tim Gudex, Northwestern first baseman Pat McMahon (DH in 2005) and Purdue shortstop Mitch Hilligoss.  The first team includes players from six different schools, led by Michigan and Ohio State with four apiece and Northwestern (3) with multiple selections.  Michigan's Paul Hammond (SP), Northwestern's Brauer (SP) and Ohio State's Bourquin (3B) and Matt Angle (OF) were all unanimous selections to the first team. 

The conference office also announced today honorees from each of the league's 10 baseball squads for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
Honorees for baseball are Illinois' Shawn Roof, Indiana's Clint Crosier, Iowa's Austin Seward, Michigan's A.J. Scheidt, Michigan State's Kyle Day, Minnesota's Luke MacLean, Northwestern's Brauer, Ohio State's Cody Caughenbaugh, Penn State's Scott Gaffney and Purdue's Eric Wolfe.

These 10 student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year.

The complete 2006 All-Big Ten Baseball Teams are listed below.

FIRST TEAM
1B - Pat McMahon, NU
2B - Jason Zoeller, OSU
SS - Mitch Hilligoss, PUR
3B - Ronnie Bourquin, OSU#
OF - Matt Angle, OSU#
OF - Eric Rose, MICH
OF - Ryan Basham, MSU
DH - Antonio Mule, NU
C - Jeff Kunkel, MICH
SP - Chris Fetter, MICH
SP - Paul Hammond, MICH#
SP - Dan Brauer, NU#
SP - Dan Delucia, OSU
RP - Tim Gudex, IOWA
 
SECOND TEAM
1B - Nate Recknagel, MICH
2B - Keith Haas, IND
SS - Jedidiah Stephen, OSU
3B - Caleb Fields, NU
OF - Ryan Snowden, ILL
OF - Lance Thompson, PSU
OF - Ryne White, PUR
DH - Spencer Ingaldson, PUR
C - Eric Fryer, OSU
SP - Austin Seward, IOWA
SP - Zach Putnam, MICH
SP - Cole DeVries, MINN
SP - J.B. Shuck, OSU
RP - Chris Toneguzzi, PUR

THIRD TEAM
1B - Andy Hunter, MINN
2B - Ryan Hastings, ILL
SS - Shawn Roof, ILL
3B - A.J. Scheidt, MICH
OF - Reggie Watson, IND
OF - Matt Nohelty, MINN
OF - Jacob Howell, OSU
DH - Adam Abraham, MICH
C - Geoff Dietz, NU
SP - Doug Fleenor, IND*
SP - Alan Stidfole, PSU*
SP - Cory Luebke, OSU*
SP - Ricky Heines, PUR*
SP - Dan Sattler, PUR*
RP - Julio Siberio, NU

Player of the Year:  Ronnie Bourquin, OSU 
Pitcher of the Year:  Dan Brauer, NU
Freshman of the Year:  J.B. Shuck, OSU       
Coach of the Year:  Paul Stevens, NU
 
# Unanimous Selection
* Additional honorees due to ties
                                        
Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honorees:  Shawn Roof, ILL; Clint Crosier, IND; Austin Seward, IOWA; A.J. Scheidt, MICH; Kyle Day, MSU; Luke MacLean, MINN; Dan Brauer, NU; Cody Caughenbaugh, OSU; Scott Gaffney, PSU; Eric Wolfe, PUR.

Big Ten Baseball

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