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2004 Baseball All-Conference Honors
May 26, 2004
Gophers' John Anderson earns third straight Coach of the Year honor as Glen Perkins tabbed as Pitcher of the Year; Buckeyes' Steve Caravati named Player of the Year while teammate Jacob Howell nabs Freshman of the Year laurels Park Ridge, IL - The Big Ten office announced the 2004 All-Big Ten Baseball Teams and individual honors today on the first day of Conference Tournament play, as the top two seeds split the individual postseason awards. Three-time defending League champion and top seed Minnesota was honored as John Anderson was named the Coach of the Year for the third straight season while Glen Perkins, the 2003 Freshman of the Year, was chosen as the Pitcher of the Year. No. 2 seed Ohio State collected a pair of individual accolades as Steve Caravati was tabbed as the Player of the Year while fellow outfielder Jacob Howell was named the Freshman of the Year. Perkins and Caravati were joined by Michigan State third baseman James Moreno and Gophers outfielder Sam Steidl as unanimous selections to the 2004 All-Big Ten First Team. Perkins becomes the second Minnesota hurler in school history and the second in the last three years to earn Big Ten Pitcher of the Year laurels along with 2002 honoree C.J Woodrow. Perkins is only the third pitcher in Conference history to claim the triple crown by leading the League in earned run average (1.88), won-lost record (7-0) and strikeouts (62). He is the first Gopher to accomplish that feat, joining Michigan's Ross Powell in 1989 and Illinois' Tom Fletcher in 1962. Perkins is now 15-0 in his career in Conference play after setting a Big Ten record with an unblemished 8-0 mark in his first season on the field. The sophomore lefthander is the second straight pitcher to follow up a Freshman of the Year season by winning Pitcher of the Year accolades succeeding OSU's Scott Lewis. Anderson was honored by his peers as the League Coach of the Year after leading the Gophers to a third straight Conference crown. He is the first coach in Big Ten annals to collect the postseason accolade in three straight seasons and has now been chosen four times in his career (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004). Ohio State nabbed the remaining individual honors, as Caravati became just the third Buckeye to earn Player of the Year honors joining Dan Seimetz in 1997 and Jonathan Sweet in 1994. The junior outfielder led the Big Ten in League games only with an on-base percentage of .481 while ranking among the top three in batting average (2nd at .407) and runs batted in (T3rd with 30). Howell became the eighth Buckeye to collect the Freshman of the Year award and the fifth in the past six years. Ohio State dominated the honor for four straight seasons from 1999-2002, as Lewis was the school's most recent honoree. Howell ranked sixth in League action with a .380 batting average, second only to Caravati on the OSU roster, while racking up 46 hits and 27 runs scored. As for the All-Big Ten Teams, three League standouts were able to repeat their First Team selections from a year ago in Perkins, Steidl and Northwestern pitcher J.A. Happ. Happ, who was honored as a relief pitcher as a freshman in 2002, is now the first Wildcat in school history to collect First Team laurels on three occasions. The First Team includes players from eight different schools, as Michigan, Michigan State and Minnesota led the way with three picks each. The 2004 All-Big Ten Baseball Teams are listed below. 2004 All-Big Ten Baseball Teams FIRST TEAM
1B - Andy Hunter, MINN SECOND TEAM
1B - Kyle Bohm, MICH THIRD TEAM
1B - Mark Ori, NU
Player of the Year: Steve Caravati, OSU
# Unanimous selection
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