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Indiana and Ohio State Earn Top Big Ten Individual Honors for 2009 Baseball Season
May 19, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio ? On the night before the start of the 2009 Big Ten Baseball Tournament, the Big Ten Conference announced the season?s All-Big Ten teams and individual honors, recognizing Ohio State catcher Dan Burkhart as the conference Player of the Year, Indiana?s Eric Arnett and OSU?s Alex Wimmers as Co-Pitchers of the Year, IU?s Alex Dickerson as Freshman of the Year and Buckeye mentor Bob Todd as Coach of the Year.
Burkhart becomes the fifth Buckeye to be named Big Ten Player of the Year and the first since Ronnie Bourquin in 2006. He is the second Ohio State catcher to earn the honor, joining Jonathan Sweet in 1994. The sophomore backstop led his team to its first conference championship since 2001 on the heels of an 18-6 Big Ten slate and a 39-15 mark headed into tournament play. The sophomore batted .362 on the season with a slugging percentage of .611, reaching base at a .435 clip. He also ranked in the conference?s top five with 57 RBI. Burkhart also handled a pitching staff that held opponents to a .282 batting average and struck out an average of 7.67 batters per game. Burkhart is a semifinalist for the Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award, which honors the nation?s top collegiate catcher.
A high school friend of Burkhart?s, Wimmers is the second Buckeye in the last three years to receive top conference pitching honors and is the fourth Ohio State player to earn the distinction. Wimmers finished the regular season on top of several Big Ten statistics, including ERA (2.58), opponents? average (.197), innings pitched (94.1) and strikeouts (122). The sophomore was named Big Ten Player of the Week four times this year and threw the first nine-inning no-hitter in program history on May 2, recording 14 strikeouts in the process. Wimmers enters the tournament with a 9-1 record, including a 4-1 mark in Big Ten play. The righty is a semifinalist for the College Baseball Foundation?s Pitcher of the Year Award.
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