Pitcher Scott Lewis Named Big Ten Freshman of the Year – Ohio State Buckeyes
5/21/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 21, 2002
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Park Ridge, IL — Ohio State’s Scott Lewis was honored as the Freshman of the Year Tuesday when the All-Big Ten Baseball Teams and individual honors were announced.
Lewis continues a strong tradition of Big Ten Freshman of the Year selections from Ohio State, as the lefthanded pitcher is the fourth straight Buckeye to earn that distinction, joining current teammates Doug Deeds (2001), Nick Swisher (2000) and E.J. Laratta (1999). Overall, Ohio State boasts seven Freshman of the Year winners in the award’s 15-year history and is the only program to feature consecutive winners.
Fthe first time in League history, three players tied in voting for Player of the Year in Minnesota’s Luke Appert, Indiana’s Kennard Jones and Michigan State’s Bob Malek. The Conference Champion Golden Gophers also claimed two other honors, as C.J. Woodrow was named the Pitcher of the Year and head coach John Anderson was chosen as the Coach of the Year.
Appert, Jones and Malek also garnered First-Team All-Big Ten honors in becoming the first trio to share the Player of the Year award in Big Ten history. A pair of Conference players has been honored on four occasions, most recently in 1995 when Michigan’s Scott Weaver and Minnesota’s Shane Gunderson were named Co-Players of the Year. Appert is the third Golden Gopher in the past four years to win at least a share of the honor, as Jack Hannahan was selected in 2001 and Robb Quinlan was picked in 1999. Jones is just the second Hoosier to collect Player of the Year honors, as IU’s Mike Smith shared the award with Iowa’s Brett Backlund in 1992. Malek is the first player in Michigan State history to be named Big Ten Player of the Year.
Minnesota claimed two more individual honors, as Anderson was named Big Ten Coach of the Year for the second time in his career and the second time in the past three seasons. Woodrow is the first Gophers’ hurler to be honored as the Conference Pitcher of the Year.
As for the All-Big Ten teams, three League standouts were able to repeat their First-Team selections from a year ago in Illinois pitcher Andy Dickinson and two outfielders — MSU’s Malek and OSU’s Swisher (who was honored at first base in 2001). The First Team includes players from seven different teams, led by the three selections for both Minnesota (Appert, Woodrow and Scott Welch) and Ohio State (Swisher, Scott Lewis and Nate Smith). Iowa first-baseman Brad Carlson became the first Hawkeye since 1997 to earn First-Team honors while the Indiana pair of Jones and third-baseman Vasili Spanos are just the second and third IU First-Teamers since 1996.
For Ohio State had four players represented on the second team. Christian Snavely was honored at second base, Doug Deeds in the outfield, Joe Wilkins behind the plate and Joseh Newman on the mound. Rounding out the honors for the Buckeyes was Brandon Steen, who garnered third-team honors as a relief pitcher.
