UMD Baseball Sets Records

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

The University of Minnesota Duluth closed the books on a record-setting season in 2015, falling a win shy of the team’s all-time single season mark at 35 while posting head coach Bob Rients‘ best Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference season with 26 wins.

The starting line-up set a new season highs for hit-by-pitch with 60 (48 in 2005) but also strikeouts with 375 (306, 2010). The Bulldogs’ .970 team fielding percentage edged 1992’s .968 mark as UMD made just 53 errors on the season 1,767 chances.

The team also fell just short in a number of categories with 100 doubles (106 in 2010), 54 home runs (55 in 2003), 69 stolen bases (72 in 2009), and 210 walks (226 in two seasons). Not only team record fell in 2015 as junior first baseman Alex Wojciechowski had 137 totals bases (131 by David Olson in 2009). He, junior second baseman Jimmy Heck, and sophomore outfielder Grant Farley each threatened the UMD doubles record of 20, set by Matt Joesting in 1999 and Matt Johnson in 1998, with 19, 18, 17, each.

Wojciechowski also threatened the home run mark with 12 on the year (15, held by Jeff Kaldor in 1990 and Tim Battaglia in 2003).

Farley played a large role in the hit by pitch mark with 12 on the year, one shy of Marty Spansih’s total of 13 suffered back in 2000. Speaking of suffering, senior centerfielder John Meyer struck out 50 times on the year, finding himself on the wrong side of the record book by passing Brian Burman’s total of 43 set in 2010 – though with a .313/.405/.547 batting line and 22 extra base hits including nine home runs, he still has plenty to be proud of in his final season. On the other side of the coin, junior third baseman Kyle Comer had 34 walks, four short of Craig Lebart’s total of 38 set in 1998.

On the mound, senior right-hander Wes Mleziva threatened the season saves mark with six on the year (eight by Brian LaShomb in 1991). In the field, it was Wojciechowski setting another season high with 462 putouts on the year, far and away more than the previous record of 348 set by Alex Conboy in 2007 – showing the number of ground outs that UMD’s pitching staff forced.

Junior left-hander Bo Hellquist tossed a no-hitter and also had his third complete game shutout of his career, securing fourth place all-time at UMD. That shutout, coming just last week against Wayne State (Neb.) College in the NSIC/U.S. Bank Postseason Tournament, earned Hellquist a spot on the All-Tournament Team, just the third Bulldog pitcher and eighth player overall to earn that honor.

Also earning conference honors, unsurprisingly, was Wojciechowski, who returned to the All-NSIC First Team alongside his right-side-of-the-infield mate Heck. The pair finished first and second on the team in average, hits, and doubles.

Heck had just three errors on the season in 211 chances, good for a .986 fielding percentage and a spot on the All-NSIC Gold Glove Team, the second-straight season that a Bulldog second baseman has earned that honor. Farley, who slugged ten home runs on the year, exceeded even the lofty expectations set by a stellar debut season in 2014, hitting .380/.477/.706 and earning a spot on the All-Conference second team.

While UMD missed out on securing a spot in the NCAA II Central Region tournament starting later this week, these top individual performers will very likely have a shot at securing additional postseason honors, as the Daktronics and American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Region teams will be announced later this week with several Bulldogs on the ballot.

UMD RECORDS & NEAR-RECORDS IN 2015