Slegers, Smith win Big Ten honors

The Big Ten conference announced IU Coach Tracy Smith as Coach of the Year and sophomore Aaron Slegers as Pitcher of the Year Monday afternoon.

It is just the second time IU has won each of the honors.

Slegers pitched in 14 games, finishing with an 8-1 record, tied for the most wins in the conference, with a 1.98 earned run average. He surrendered just one home run in a team-high 81.2 innings of work.

Bob Morgan took home Coach of the Year honors in 1998, and Eric Arnett won Pitcher of the Year in 2009.

Slegers was also an All-Big Ten First Team unanimous selection. The Hoosiers had a record nine players named to an All-Big Ten team.

Joining Slegers on the first team is sophomore catcher Kyle Schwarber, sophomore designated hitter Scott Donley and junior Dustin DeMuth.

Schwarber led the conference with 14 home runs 125 total bases, and was in the top three in the conference in average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs scored and RBI. Last year, he was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team.

DeMuth topped the team in average with a .398, the second highest in the conference. He finished third in the conference in slugging percentage, on-base percentage and hits.

Donley had a team-high 49 RBI, good for second in the Big Ten.

Sophomore first baseman Sam Travis, junior pitcher Joey DeNato and freshman pitcher Scott Effross were named to the All-Big Ten Second Team. Travis won the same honor last season. DeNato was a third team selection last year.

Senior shortstop Michael Basil and junior pitcher Ryan Halstead were named to the third team.

Freshman second baseman Nick Ramos and freshman pitcher Will Coursen-Carr, as well as Effross, were also named to the All-Freshman Team.

Basil also took home IU's sportsmanship award. He was also named the Big Ten Player of the Week on Monday, the first time he has won the award during his career.