Spartan Baseball Hands Out Awards At Annual Banquet
5/20/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 20, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State baseball program handed out awards for the 2003 season at the annual banquet Monday night (May 19) at the Michigan Athletic Club. Danny Litwhiler, MSU's all-time winningest coach, was awarded the program's highest honor as he was named the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year. Litwhiler becomes just the second Spartan in the program to earn the honor, as Hall of Fame pitcher Robin Roberts earned the inaugural award last year.
Litwhiler totaled 488 wins in his 19 years at the helm of the Spartan baseball program from 1964-84. He coached his teams to Big Ten Championships in 1971 and 1979 and also led his team to appearances in the NCAA Tournament in 1978 and 1979. Sixteen of Litwhiler's players progressed to the major leagues, including Kirk Gibson, Rick Miller and Steve Garvey. He is a member of the American Association of College Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame and a recipient of the "Lefty Gomez Award" for outstanding contributions to college baseball.
Litwhiler was inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1994 and is also in the hall of fame at Bloomsburg University, Florida State University, the Helms Foundation, the Royal Dutch Baseball Association and the state of Pennsylvania.
Junior right-hander Bryan Gale (Decatur) was named the team's Most Valuable Player as well as the Pitcher of the Year. Gale led the team in every major pitching statistical category, including wins (7), ERA (3.48), strikeouts (53) and innings pitched (95 2/3). Gale was one of the top pitchers in the Big Ten, ranking first in the regular season statistics in innings and games started (13), second in opposing batting average (.227), tied for fourth in wins, sixth in ERA and tied for seventh in strikeouts.
Gale will bring a 24-11 record into his senior season, which already ranks second in the history of the program. He will be looking to break Stuart Hirschman's all-time record of 28 wins. Gale also ranks third in MSU history in innings pitched (259 1/3) and fourth in strikeouts (184).
Travis Gulick (East Lansing) led the team in nearly every offensive category and was named the team's Offensive Player of the Year. Through the end of the Big Ten regular season, Gulick led the league in hits (78) and runs scored (60), and ranked among the Top 10 in: batting (.370 - seventh), total bases (136 - second), slugging percentage (.645 - fifth), on-base percentage (.435 - sixth), home runs (13 - second) and RBI (43 - seventh). Gulick's spectacular numbers landed him among the Top 10 in MSU single-season history for hits (seventh), runs (fourth) and total bases (fifth).
Catcher Brady Burrill (Sr., Newhall, Calif.) earned Defensive Player of the Year honors as he led the Big Ten in pickoffs while throwing out 20 runners on the basepaths. Burrill only made two errors all season and eight in his career, good for a .991 fielding percentage. The co-captain was also one of MSU's top hitters - his .381 batting average and .461 on-base percentage ranked second and fourth in the Big Ten, respectively. Burrill, a preseason All-American as selected by Collegiate Baseball, was one of 30 finalists for the 2003 Johnny Bench Award, which is given to the nation's premier catcher.
Other award winners were co-captain Charlie Braun (Sr., Grosse Pointe), who earned the Bullpen Club Academic Award for achieving a 3.7 GPA in human biology; sophomore Tim Day (West Chester), who was named the Craig Hendricks Sportsmanship Award winner for displaying leadership both on and off the field; and sophomore Erik Morris (Orchard Lake), who was named the Most Improved Player after increasing his batting average nearly 100 points during the last month of the season while going on a career-best 15-game hitting streak.
2003 MSU BASEBALL AWARDS:
Distinguished Alumnus of the Year: Danny LitwhilerMost Valuable Player: Bryan GaleDefensive Player of the Year: Brady BurrillOffensive Player of the Year: Travis GulickPitcher of the Year: Bryan GaleCraig Hendricks Sportsmanship Award: Tim DayBullpen Club Academic Award: Charlie BraunMost Improved Player: Erik Morris
