June 27, 2007

Bedra, Koehnlein Finish Seasons Ranking Among National Leaders

    Youngstown -- Youngstown State junior softball player McKenzie Bedra and sophomore baseball player John Koehnlein finished the 2007 season ranked as two of the top hitters in their respective sports according to the final statistics released by the NCAA on Wednesday.
    Bedra, a third baseman and designated player from Bowling Green, Ohio, ranked among the top 100 hitters in six categories, including second in the country doubles per game with 0.42. Koehnlein, a third baseman and outfielder from Steubenville, Ohio, finished in the top five in two categories, including fourth in batting average with a .434 clip.
    Bedra, a First-Team All-Horizon League selection, also ranked 12th in the nation in slugging percentage (.796), 23rd in batting average (.416), 42nd in walks per game (0.63), 43rd in RBIs per game (0.89) and 72nd in home runs per game (0.24). Her .796 slugging percentage set the school record, and she became YSU's career home runs leader after hitting nine this season.
    Koehnlein, also a First-Team All-Horizon League selection and an All-Tournament Team honoree, used a school-record 108 hits to achieve his fourth-ranked average. He was also the fifth-toughest player in the nation to go down on strikes with one strikeout per 22.6 at bats. Unofficially, he led the nation with 1.93 hits per game, ranked fourth in hits and tied for the fifth-longest hitting streak with 29 games, which will carry over into next season.
    In addition to Koehnlein, junior Sean Lucas ranked as the 44th-toughest player to strike out, redshirt freshman Tom Clayton ranked 53rd in doubles per game and senior Andy Svitak finished 58th in saves.
    The softball team ranked 71st in the country in doubles per game, 90th in home runs per game and batting average and 99th in slugging percentage. The baseball team finished ranked 85th in double plays per game.