Iowa Baseball: Several Hawkeyes Take Home All-Big Ten Honors

Iowa baseball continues to find new heights under head coach Rick Heller. The Hawkeyes wrapped up their regular season last Saturday with a series sweep of Indiana inside the friendly confines of Duane Banks Field, making it 7 of their final 8 conference series Iowa won.

On the whole, the Hawkeyes finished the regular season with a 32-16 record, going 15-6 at home, 12-7 on the road and 5-3 on neutral sites, while finishing 17-7 in Big Ten Conference play. That was good enough to finish in a 3-way tie for second place along with Rutgers and Illinois on conference record and third after accounting for overall record.

Now the Hawkeyes set their sites on a Big Ten Tournament Championship as they travel to Omaha to take on 6th seeded Penn State in the tournament opener on Wednesday morning at 9am (check out the tournament stream for further details and game by game coverage). But before Iowa heads west, the Hawkeyes had several stars earn honors as the Big Ten Conference announced All-Big Ten teams on Tuesday.

Iowa’s ace, Adam Mazur, became just the second Hawkeye in program history to be named Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and the second in as many seasons to don the black and gold after Payton Wallace took home the honors a season ago. The Woodbury, Minnesota native finished the year 7-2 with a 3.05 ERA in 14 regular season starts and went 5-1 with a 2.59 ERA in eight Big Ten starts. He led the conference in ERA (2.59), wins (5) and innings (55 2/3) despite giving up an uncharacteristic 9 earned runs with just one strikeout in two innings during his final start of the year, pushing his ERA up nearly two full points in his final start.

Mazur wasn’t the only standout to be recognized as freshman Keaton Anthony was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, marking the second time in program history a Hawkeye has taken home the honors, joining 2B C.J. Thieleke back in 1994. Anthony finished the regular season with a .360 batting average (7th in the B1G) with a .694 slugging (4th) and 1.135 OPS (4th) to go with 14 HRs (10th), 53 RBIs and 43 runs scored. His 20 doubles on the year are second most in program history while his six Freshman of the Week Awards are a Big Ten record.

As impressive as Anthony was at the plate, 1B Peyton Williams was every bit as incredible this season. The redshirt sophomore was named First Team All-Big Ten along with Mazur after finishing 8th in the Big Ten in batting average (.353), 6th in slugging percentage (.654) and 5th in on-base percentage (.477) and OPS (1.131). He added 12 home runs, 17 doubles and a pair of triples to go with 38 RBIs and 51 runs scored on the season.

With Williams and Mazur making two Hawkeyes named to the 1st Team, the addition of reliever Ben Beutal to the 2nd Team made it a pair of Hawkeyes there as well. The Davenport, Iowa native finished the season 3-0 with a 1.33 ERA and four saves in a team-leading 26 appearances out of the pen. Beutal allowed just 17 hits and 4 walks over 27 innings while striking out 36 batters during the regular season. He didn’t allow a run in 22 of his 26 appearances.

In keeping with the trend, the Hawkeyes landed a pair on the Big Ten All-Freshman Team as reliever Brody Brecht joined Freshman of the Year Anthony on the list of honorees. Brecht finished the regular season 1-3 with an ERA of 2.42. He struck out 44 batters in 22 ¹⁄₃ innings of work across 16 appearances while allowing just one extra base hit.

In addition to the two 1st, 2nd and All-Freshman Big Ten honorees, Iowa’s Brandon Sher was named a Sportsmanship Award recipient. The award is “presented to student-athletes who display sportsmanship and ethical behavior, are in good academic standing, and demonstrate good citizenship outside of athletics.”

Here’s a look at the full list of All-Big Ten Honors presented by the conference on Tuesday.

Player of the Year: Chris Alleyne, Maryland
Pitcher of the Year: Adam Mazur, Iowa
Freshman of the Year: Keaton Anthony, Iowa
Coach of the Year: Rob Vaughn, Maryland

All-Big Ten First Team
C – Matt Wood, Penn State
1B – Peyton Williams, Iowa
2B – Kevin Keister, Maryland
SS – Danny DiGeorgio, Rutgers
3B – Nick Lorusso, Maryland
OF – Chris Alleyne, Maryland
OF – Clark Elliott, Michigan
OF – Ryan Lasko, Rutgers
SP – Adam Mazur, IowaSP – Ryan Ramsey, Maryland
SP – Jason Savacool, Maryland
RP – Dale Stanavich, Rutgers
DH – CJ Valdez, Purdue
At-Large – Matt Shaw, Maryland

All-Big Ten Second Team
C – Nick Cimillo, Rutgers
1B – Justin Janas, Illinois
2B – Patrick Herrera, Northwestern
SS – Zach Dezenzo, Ohio State
3B – Branden Comia, Illinois
OF – Cam McDonald, Illinois
OF – Keaton Anthony, Iowa
OF – Ethan O’Donnell, Northwestern
SP – Cole Kirschsieper, Illinois
SP – Emmett Olson, Nebraska
SP – Jared Kollar, Rutgers
RP – Ben Beutel, Iowa
DH – Josh Spiegel, Penn State
At-Large – Luke Shliger, Maryland

All-Big Ten Third Team*
C – Matthew Ellis, Indiana
1B – Chris Brito, Rutgers
2B – Josh Kuroda-Grauer, Rutgers
SS – Mitch Jebb, Michigan State
3B – Matt Frey, Michigan
OF – Troy Schreffler Jr., Maryland
OF – Joe Stewart, Michigan
OF – Danny Doligale, Illinois
SP – Jackson Smeltz, Purdue
SP – Nathan Florence, Rutgers
SP – Nick Dean, Maryland
RP – Kyle Bischoff, Michigan State
DH – Maxwell Costes, Maryland
At-Large – Marcus Ernst, Ohio State
At-Large – Kade Kern, Ohio State

All-Big Ten Freshman Team
C – Bryan Broecker, Michigan State
1B – Brock Tibbitts, Indiana
2B – Josh Kuroda-Grauer, Rutgers
SS – Evan Goforth, Indiana
3B – Josh Pyne, Indiana
OF – Keaton Anthony, Iowa
OF – Carter Mathison, Indiana
OF – Trey Lipsey, Ohio State
SP – Sean Sullivan, Northwestern
SP – Ryan Szczepaniak, Michigan State
SP – Troy Wansing, Purdue
RP – Brody Brecht, Iowa
DH – Anthony Steele, Penn State
At-Large – Garrett Anglim, Nebraska

Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Taylor Jackson, Illinois
Tyler Doanes, Indiana
Brendan Sher, Iowa
James Heffley, Maryland
Matt Frey, Michigan
Zach Iverson, Michigan State
Andrew Wilhite, Minnesota
Brice Matthews, Nebraska
Mike Doherty, Northwestern
Brent Todys, Ohio State
Mason Mellott, Penn State
Tanner Haston, Purdue
Brad Norton, Rutgers