Koman Named Michigan's Baseball MVP for 2001
5/21/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
| | Koman |
Michigan head coach Geoff Zahn announced that junior righthander Bobby Korecky (Saline, Mich./Saline HS) was the winner of the GEOFF ZAHN MOST VALUABLE PITCHER AWARD. Korecky, as Michigan's number one starter, was 6-4 and pitched eight complete games. He led the Wolverines to a 5-2 record in Friday Big Ten openers, which helped to put the Wolverines in the conference tournament. Korecky, an All-Big Ten second team selection, led the team with 12 starts and he worked 101.2 innings, the second highest total in Michigan history. He is the just the third Wolverine to throw more than 100 innings in a season.
Senior second baseman Scott Tousa (Dallas, Texas/Lake Highland HS) was named winner of the TED SIZEMORE AWARD as Michigan's top defensive player for the second straight season. He is the fourth player to win the award twice but the first to win it back-to-back seasons at different positions as he started 29 games at shortstop in 2000 and 50 games at second base as a senior (Tousa made 195 career starts -- 104 at SS and 91 at 2B). Tousa fielded .987 as a senior with just four errors in 309 chances in the field and he was perfect in Big Ten play, fielding 1.000 in 132 chances.
Tousa along with senior shortstop Bill LaRosa (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) and senior LHP Nick Alexander (Alpena, Mich./Alpena HS) were named tri-winners of THE WOLVERINE AWARD for spirit and leadership. Alexander, who pitched in 16 games in 2001, finished his career with 61 appearances, tops among lefthanders in Michigan history and sixth overall. LaRosa played solid defense and had hits in six of the eight games in Columbus, Ohio, to close out the 2001 season.
Junior/sophomore 1B Nate Wright (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew HS) was named winner of the BETTY SIMMONS AWARD as Michigan's Most Improved Player. Wright, who missed the 2000 season due to knee surgery, bounced back to hit .327 and earned Big Ten Player of the Week honors in the Wolverine sweep of Indiana in early April. He was second on the team in hitting (.327), shared second on the team in homers (5) and was third on the team with 31 RBI.
Junior RHP Phil Lobert (Spring Lake, Mich./Grand Haven HS), who sports a 3.87 grade point average in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts (bio-chemistry major) was named winner of the Steve Boros Award as Michigan baseball's top scholar athlete for the second straight year.
Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
