Indiana's Grant Richardson Earns 1st-Team All-Big Ten Honors
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Several Indiana baseball players won Big Ten honors on Sunday when the league announced all of its awards for the 2021 seasson.
Center fielder Grant Richardson was named first-team All-Big Ten. "I was thrilled to see that,'' Indiana coach Jeff Mercer said. "It's certainly a well-deserved honor because there's no question he's one of the elite players in our league.''
Richardson led the Hoosiers with a .320 batting average, and was the league's premier defensive center fielders. He was also second on the team in home runs (7) and RBIs (33) to third baseman Cole Barr.
Starting pitchers Gabe Bierman and McCade Brown were second-team selections, and Barr was an at-large selection on the third team. "Those two were certainly among the best pitchers in our league all year,'' Mercer said. "They gave us a chance to win every time they went out there, and they singlehandedly won a few games for us this year.''
Several Indiana freshmen were honored as well. Second baseman Paul Toetz, right fielder Morgan Colopy and relief pitcher John Modugno all received All-Freshman Team honors.
Catcher Collin Hopkins was the Indiana representative for the league's Sportsmanship Award for each team. The Big Ten's Sportsmanship Award honorees from each institution are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These students must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
Nebraska’s Spencer Schwellenbach was named the Big Ten Player of the Year, Iowa’s Trenton Wallace earned Pitcher of the Year honors, Nebraska’s Max Anderson claimed Freshman of the Year recognition and Huskers head coach Will Bolt was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year.
Nebraska won the regular season title and the league's automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament since there is no conference tournament this season because of COVID-19 protocosl.
Schwellenbach is the first Nebraska standout to claim Big Ten Player of the Year honors. A shortstop and reliever for the Huskers, Schwellenbach ranks thrid overall in saves (8), fourth in assists (109), third in runs (41), sixth in walks (27) and seventh in RBI (35). The team captain has pitched 25.1 innings with a 0.71 ERA and 29 strikeouts.
Wallace becomes the first Iowa hurler to earn Big Ten Pitcher of the Year accolades. In 73.0 innings pitched, the left-handed starter currently paces the Big Ten in wins (7), strikeouts (106) and ERA (2.34). Wallace is the second Hawkeye pitcher to strike out more than 100 batters in a single season, joining Jim Magrane, who struck out 110 during the 1999 season.
Anderson becomes the second Nebraska player to capture Big Ten Freshman of the Year plaudits and the first since 2016. The third baseman leads the conference in hits (60) and is eighth in the league with a .337 average.
Bolt was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year, becoming the second Nebraska head coach to earn the honor. Bolt guided the Huskers to their second Big Ten Championship and first since 2017.
Here are the league's award winners:
Top Big Ten Players, Coaches
- PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Spencer Schwellenbach, Nebraska
- PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Trenton Wallace, Iowa
- FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Max Anderson, Nebraska
- COACH OF THE YEAR: Will Bolt, Nebraska
All-Big Ten First Team
- CATCHER – Luke Roskam, Nebraska
- FIRST BASE – Anthony Calarco, Northwestern
- SECOND BASE – Ted Burton, Michigan
- SHORTSTOP – Benjamin Cowles, Maryland
- THIRD BASE – Jackson Raper, Illinois
- OUTFIELD – Grant Richardson, Indiana
- OUTFIELD – Ben Norman, Iowa
- OUTFIELD – Jaxon Hallmark, Nebraska
- STARTING PITCHER – Trenton Wallace, Iowa
- STARTING PITCHER – Steven Hajjar, Michigan
- STARTING PITCHER – Cade Povich, Nebraska
- RELIEF PITCHER – Spencer Schwellenbach, Nebraska
- DESIGNATED HITTER – Justin Janas, Illinois
- AT-LARGE – Shawn Goosenberg, Northwestern
All-Big Ten Second Team
- CATCHER – Griffin Mazur, Michigan
- FIRST BASE – Conner Pohl, Ohio State
- SECOND BASE – Zack Raabe, Minnesota
- SHORTSTOP – Benjamin Sems, Michigan
- THIRD BASE – Max Anderson, Nebraska
- OUTFIELD – Chris Alleyne, Maryland
- OUTFIELD – Tito Flores, Michigan
- OUTFIELD – Kade Kern, Ohio State
- STARTING PITCHER – Gabe Bierman, Indiana
- STARTING PITCHER – Cameron Weston, Michigan
- STARTING PITCHER – McCade Brown, Indiana
- RELIEF PITCHER – Ryan Ramsey, Maryland
- DESIGNATED HITTER – Matt Wood, Penn State
- AT-LARGE – Michael Trautwein, Northwestern
All-Big Ten Third Team
- CATCHER – Ryan Hampe, Illinois
- FIRST BASE – Jimmy Obertop, Michigan
- SECOND BASE – Izaya Fullard, Iowa
- SHORTSTOP – Branden Comia, Illinois
- THIRD BASE – Chris Brito, Rutgers
- OUTFIELD – Zaid Walker, Michigan State
- OUTFIELD – Ben Nisle, Purdue
- OUTFIELD – Miles Simington, Purdue
- STARTING PITCHER – Andrew Hoffmann, Illinois
- STARTING PITCHER – Garrett Burhenn, Ohio State
- STARTING PITCHER – Seth Lonsway, Ohio State
- RELIEF PITCHER – Willie Weiss, Michigan
- DESIGNATED HITTER – Mike Bolton, Purdue
- AT-LARGE – Cole Barr, Indiana
Big Ten All-Freshman Team
- CATCHER – Luke Shliger, Maryland
- SECOND BASE – Paul Toetz, Indiana
- SHORTSTOP – Mitch Jebb, Michigan State
- THIRD BASE – Max Anderson, Nebraska
- OUTFIELD – Morgan Colopy, Indiana
- OUTFIELD – Kade Kern, Ohio State
- OUTFIELD – Ryan Lasko, Rutgers
- STARTING PITCHER – Riley Gowens, Illinois
- STARTING PITCHER – Nick Powers, Michigan State
- STARTING PITCHER – Jason Savacool, Maryland
- RELIEF PITCHER – John Modugno, Indiana
- DESIGNATED HITTER – Ethan O'Donnell, Northwestern
- AT-LARGE – Matthew Shaw, Maryland
- AT-LARGE – Brice Matthews, Nebraska
Sportsmanship Award Honorees
- ILLINOIS — Nate Lavender
- INDIANA – Collin Hopkins
- IOWA – Grant Leonard
- MARYLAND – Elliot Zoellner
- MICHIGAN – Joe Pace
- MICHIGAN STATE – Andrew Morrow
- MINNESOTA – Jack Wassel
- NEBRASKA – Joe Acker
- NORTHWESTERN – Charlie Bourbon
- OHIO STATE – Joe Gahm
- PENN STATE – Conor Larkin
- PURDUE — Trent Johnson
- RUTGERS — Kyle Muller