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May 24, 2005
Justin Thomas Named Pitcher of the
Year; Four Others Earn All-League
Honors
Indianapolis --
Youngstown State junior left-hander
Justin Thomas was named the Horizon
League Pitcher of the Year while
four other Penguins earned
All-League honors at Tuesday
evening’s League award banquet on
Butler's campus.
Thomas became the
first Penguin to earn the
distinction in the Horizon League,
and joined former first-round draft
pick Brad Hennessey as the only two
players in school history to earn
conference pitcher of the year
honors.
Juniors Justin Banks and Brandon
Caipen joined Thomas on the
first-team while senior Jim Phillips
earned second-team honors and
redshirt freshman Erich Diedrich was
named to the All-Newcomer Team.
Thomas, an Oregon, Ohio
native, finished the regular season
with a dominating 3-1 mark in
Horizon League contests. In 27
innings against league opponents,
Thomas posted an ERA of 2.00 and
threw three complete games. In his
three wins against Cleveland State,
Wright State and UW-Milwaukee, the
Oregon, Ohio, native allowed a total
of one earned run in 27 innings for
an ERA of 0.33. He also struck out
33 hitters in those 27 innings.
Thomas finished the regular season with a mark of 7-5 to
become the first pitcher in school
history to earn seven wins in
back-to-back seasons. He’s also
posted a career-high 83 strikeouts
in 76 1/3 innings. He currently
ranks second in school history in
strikeouts with 245, which is six
behind Dave Dravecky’s mark of 251.
He also ranks in the top five
all-time in innings pitched and
career starts. Thomas earned
Second-Team All-Horizon League
honors as a sophomore.
Banks, who earned the honor as a third baseman, led the
Penguins in hitting with a .354
average, runs scored with 35 and
on-base percentage with .429. He
started 51 games and appeared in all
53. The Steubenville, Ohio, native
also earned All-Newcomer Team honors
in 2003.
Caipen was named to the first-team as a utility player. The
Tallmadge, Ohio, native stared 28
games behind the plate and 19 games
in right field. He finished the
regular season with a .315 average
and scored 27 runs. He also earned
All-Newcomer Team honors in 2003.
Phillips, an outfielder, led the team in hitting for most of
the season and finished with a .351
average. He ranked second on the
team in home runs (4), RBIs (34) and
total bases (85).
Diedrich hit .333 while splitting time between being the
catcher and the designated hitter.
He led the team in home runs with
five and in slugging percentage with
a .514 mark.
The Penguins also had five honorees in 2003. Adam Cox was
named First-Team All-Horizon League
and Kendall Schlabach earned
second-team honors. Banks, Caipen
and Charles Schultz were named to
the All-Newcomer Team.
UIC landed eight members on the All-League teams while
UW-Milwaukee had five honorees. |
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