Oregon baseball's Mark Wasikowski named Big Ten Coach of the Year
Oregon baseball coach Mark Wasikowski was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year by his fellow coaches Tuesday morning after the Ducks captured the conference regular season crown.
The Ducks went 22-8 in conference play and 41-13 overall as they will be the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament this week in Omaha. This is the first time Wasikowski has been named Coach of the Year during his six seasons at Oregon. He makes it a clean sweep on the diamond as Oregon's softball coach, Melyssa Lombardi, was also given the award last week. It's quite the achievement for the Ducks in just their first season in the Big Ten.
Besides Wasikowski being honored, five Oregon players were named to the conference First Team and four others were named to the Third Team.
Friday night ace Grayson Grinsell, closer Seth Maddox, first baseman Jacob Walsh, outfielder Mason Neville and second baseman Ryan Cooney were the Ducks' First-Teamers. Headlining the Third Team is designated hitter Dominic Hellman, shortstop Maddox Molony, outfielder Anson Aroz, and starting pitcher Jason Reitz.
Catcher Burke-Lee Mabeus was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team as well.
Grinsell led the Ducks on the mound, going 9-2 with a 2.33 earned run average. Seth Maddox ended the regular season with a 2.60 ERA and seven saves.
On the offensive side, Neville was the guy for the Ducks with his NCAA-leading and program single-season mark of 26 home runs and 56 runs batted in. Walsh, the program overall leader in round-trippers with 59 total, also dramatically improved his batting average to .344 and 59 RBI.
Cooney, who hit eighth in the order for much of the season, managed to hit .341 and drive in 47 runs.
The Ducks will attempt to make it a double championship season as they open the conference tournament on Thursday with Michigan State. The Spartans starting lefty, Joseph Dzierwa, was the Pitcher of the Year. UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky won Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.
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