May 20, 2003
Two members of the University of Iowa baseball team were honored bythe Big Ten Tuesday. Outfielder Kyle Thousand, a junior from Sioux City, IA, was namedsecond team all-Big Ten while pitcher Nathan Johnson, a junior from Oskaloosa, IA, earnedthird-team accolades.
Thousand led the Hawkeyes in five offensive categories and ranked 12th in the Big Tenwith a .355 batting average. The junior paced the Hawkeyes with 20 stolen bases, the thirdhighest total in the Big Ten, and finished the season with a 17-game hit streak in league games.
This marks Thousand’s second career all-Big Ten honor, he earned third team all-Big Ten laurelsin 2002.
Johnson’s 3.38 earned run average led the Hawkeyes and was fifth best in the league.Johnson made 12 relief appearances before being moved to the starting rotation in his final fourappearances. In four Big Ten starts, Johnson pitched three complete games and recorded oneshutout en route to a 3-1 record. Johnson struck out a team-high 53 batters while walking justnine and his 2.82 conference ERA was fourth-best in the Big Ten.
Minnesota, the Big Ten regular season champions, collected three postseason awards.Luke Appert and John Anderson repeated as Player and Coach of the Year, respectively, as GlenPerkins earned Freshman of the Year honors. Ohio State’s Scott Lewis earned Pitcher of theYear accolades.