Indiana University Bloomington announces B1G Honors for Taylor and Co.
OMAHA, Neb. – As the first pitch of the Big Ten Tournament is thrown, the Big Ten Conference office has announced the All-Big Ten and "of the Year" awards for the 2023 season with the Indiana baseball program well represented. Freshman Devin Taylor highlights the 2023 postseason awards with the Big Ten Freshman of the Year honor and first-team All-Big Ten, while six total Hoosiers earned accolades from the conference coaches.
Taylor is the third Hoosier to earn the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award, as he joins Alex Dickerson (2009) and Sam Travis (2012). He is just the second IU rookie to earn All-B1G first team honors and the first position player to do so in program history. Pitcher Joey DeNato also earned first team honors during his first season on the field in 2011, while Larry Blackwell earned a first-team nod in 1979 as a freshman.
Sophomore Ryan Kraft also earned first-team All-Big Ten honors as the relief pitcher, while the trio of senior Phillip Glasser, sophomore Luke Sinnard and sophomore Brock Tibbitts each earned second-team honors. The Big Ten third team featured sophomore Josh Pyne, while the All-Big Ten Freshman Team saw Tyler Cerny join Taylor on the list.
For the year, Taylor led all Big Ten freshmen in batting average (.328), OPS (1.146), runs scored (58), home runs (16), RBIs (56), total bases (121), slugging percentage (.695), walks (34) and on-base percentage (.451). His 16 home runs rank third all-time by a Big Ten freshman and are No. 2 in Indiana freshman history behind Carter Mathison (22; 2022). His 56 RBIs on the season are No. 6 in program history by a freshman, with 32 of those coming in Big Ten play to rank No. 6 on the Big Ten only charts at IU.
Kraft led all Big Ten pitchers in ERA during the 2023 campaign with a 2.51 mark over 19 appearances – 18 in relief – and 57 1/3 innings of work. With 54 1/3 innings of relief work in 2023, Kraft ranked No. 9 nationally among relievers in innings pitched. He struck out 49 batters and posted a 6-1 record, with a perfect 4-0 mark in conference games. He added five saves coming during the non-conference slate.
One of the more consistent hitters on the team in 2023, Tibbitts paced the squad with a .387 batting average, .477 on-base percentage and 64 RBIs on the year. He ranked No. 2 on the squad in hits (82) and home runs (10), to go along with 31 walks and 12 hit-by-pitch to just 32 strikeouts.
Glasser reached base in each of the first 45 games of the season and has piled up a team-best 28 multi-hit games on the year in 56 starts at shortstop. The 45-game reached base streak tied the longest by a Hoosier since at least 2005 and he finished the year with a team-best 83 hits and 63 runs scored, while his .350 average was No. 2 on the team.
The only Big Ten pitcher with multiple double-digit strikeout games in 2023, Sinnard rocketed up the single season strikeouts charts at Indiana and enters the postseason ranked tied for No. 5 at 104 punchouts. Sinnard led the Big Ten in strikeouts, ranked third in innings pitched (78 1/3) and tied for No. 4 in victories (6). The right-hander needs just five more strikeouts to set the Indiana single-season record.
Pyne followed up his standout rookie season with his second straight 70-hit, 50-RBI campaign. The third baseman added 46 runs scored, 14 doubles and five home runs to his stat sheet. His 13 multi-RBI games are No. 3 on the team and he has 18 multi-RBI games to his credit in 2023.
Cerny joined Taylor with double-digit home runs this season to mark the first time in Indiana history a pair of freshmen reached the 10-home run mark in the same season. Among Big Ten freshmen, he led the group in triples (4) and hit-by-pitch (12) on the season, ranked second in runs scored (46) and third in hits (57), total bases (102) and home runs (10).
Senior Peter Serruto was named Indiana's recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award after catching 95 percent of the innings over the last two months of the season. He finished the year with a .309 batting average in Big Ten play and threw out nearly 40 percent of the potential base stealers in conference play.
BIG TEN POSTSEASON AWARDS
PLAYER OF THE YEAR Matt Shaw, Jr., SS, Maryland
PITCHER OF THE YEAR Connor O'Halloran, Jr., Michigan
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Devin Taylor, OF, Indiana
COACH OF THE YEAR Rob Vaughn, Maryland
ALL-BIG TEN FIRST TEAM
C Luke Shliger Jr. Maryland
1B Brock Vrandenburg Jr. Michigan State
2B Max Anderson Jr. Nebraska
SS Matt Shaw Jr. Maryland
3B Nick Lorusso Sr. Maryland
OF Devin Taylor Fr. Indiana
OF Sam Petersen So. Iowa
OF Ryan Lasko Jr. Rutgers
SP Brody Brecht So. Iowa
SP Connor O'Halloran Jr. Michigan
SP Christian Coppola Fr. Rutgers
RP Ryan Kraft So. Indiana
DH Keaton Anthony So. Iowa
At-Large Brice Matthews (SS) Jr. Nebraska
ALL-BIG TEN SECOND TEAM
C Bryan Broecker So. Michigan State
1B Brock Tibbitts So. Indiana
2B Trent Farquhar Jr. Michigan State
SS Phillip Glasser Sr. Indiana
3B Chris Brito Sr. Rutgers
OF Ryan Moerman So. Illinois
OF Brett Bateman Jr. Minnesota
OF Gabe Swansen So. Nebraska
SP Jack Wenninger Jr. Illinois
SP Luke Sinnard So. Indiana
SP Marcus Morgan So. Iowa
SP Jason Savacool Jr. Maryland
RP Wyatt Rush Sr. Michigan State
DH Ian Petrutz So. Maryland
At-Large Brennen Dorighi (1B) Gd. Iowa
ALL-BIG TEN THIRD TEAM
C Cade Moss Jr. Iowa
1B Jake Parr Sr. Purdue
2B Ted Burton Sr. Michigan
2B Paul Toetz Jr. Purdue
SS Mitch Jebb Jr. Michigan State
3B Josh Pyne So. Indiana
OF Elijah Lambros So. Maryland
OF Stephen Hrustich Sr. Northwestern
OF Evan Sleight Jr. Rutgers
SP Nick Dean Sr. Maryland
SP Tucker Novotny So. Minnesota
SP Khal Stephen So. Purdue
SP Drew Conover Jr. Rutgers
RP Shay Schanaman Gd Nebraska
RP Ben Gorski Jr. Rutgers
DH Bobby Marsh Fr. Penn State
At-Large Jonathan Kim (OF) Fr. Michigan
ALL-BIG TEN FRESHMAN TEAM
C Matthew Graveline Ohio State
1B Weber Neels Minnesota
2B Tyler Cerny Indiana
SS Henry Kaczmar Ohio State
3B Mitch Voit Michigan
OF Devin Taylor Indiana
OF Jonathan Kim Michigan
OF Trevor Cohen Rutgers
SP Kyle McCoy Maryland
SP Joseph Dzierwa Michigan State
SP Christian Coppola Rutgers
RP Mitch Voit Michigan
DH Bobby Marsh Penn State
At-Large Sam Garewal (SP) Northwestern
Original source can be found here.