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Five MSU baseball players earn conference honors

May 21, 2013
	<p>Spartan players walk off the field after warming up before the game on May 8, 2013, at McLane Baseball Stadium at Old College Field. The Spartans beat Eastern Michigan 6-3. Danyelle Morrow/The State News</p>

Spartan players walk off the field after warming up before the game on May 8, 2013, at McLane Baseball Stadium at Old College Field. The Spartans beat Eastern Michigan 6-3. Danyelle Morrow/The State News

Photo by Danyelle Morrow | The State News

On Tuesday morning, the Big Ten announced the winners of the all-conference awards this past 2013 baseball season. Five players from MSU landed conference honors.

Leading the way for the Spartans was sophomore Jimmy Pickens, who was named second-team All-Big Ten. Both sophomore Blaise Salter and senior Andrew Waszak were named to the All-Big Ten third team. Cam Gibson was named to the All-Freshman team and Jordan Keur was MSU’s recipient of the Sportsmanship Award.

Head coach Jake Boss Jr. said Keur is the type of kid that embodies the spirit of a Big Ten athlete.
“Keur is a young man who plays the game the right way, always playing hard and he also is a good student,” Boss said.

Pickens finished the year ranked among the Big Ten in five offensive categories. He tied for second in home runs (nine), fourth in RBIs (42), fifth in total bases (103), fifth in slugging percentage (.508) and eighth in doubles (13).

Salter ranked among the Big Ten’s best in six offensive categories. He finished fifth in doubles (14), seventh in home runs (5), eighth in slugging percentage (.503), ninth in batting average (.343), 10th in hits (62) and 12th in total bases (91).

Waszak was fourth in innings pitched (91.2), fourth in strikeouts looking (22), fifth in ERA (2.36), seventh in opponent batting average (.234), eighth in walks allowed (18), ninth in wins (6), ninth in earned runs allowed (22), 11th in strikeouts (57) and 11th in runs allowed (32).

Gibson checked in at 15th in the Big Ten with a .325 average, the best mark among all conference freshmen. He ranked second among freshmen in runs scored (34), hits (53), slugging (.393), on-base (.387) and steals (12).

Boss mentioned that the coaching staff as a whole is proud of the players and the way that they performed this past season.

“The work that these guys put in was paid off and has been recognized by the other coaches in the conference,” Boss said.” I think they were all well deserving of their honors.”

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