May 20, 2008
IOWA CITY – Three University of Iowa baseball players were honored by the Big Ten Conference Tuesday by being named all-Big Ten. Kevin Hoef and Caleb Curry were second team honorees and Justin Toole was named to the third team. Curry was also Iowa’s baseball sportsmanship award honoree.
Hoef, a third baseman from Troy, IL, earned second team laurels by hitting .389, scoring 28 runs, accumulating 44 hits and committing only three errors in conference play. Overall, he hit .357 with nine doubles, four triples, three home runs, 31 RBIs, 17 stolen bases and an Iowa single-season record, 20 hit-by-pitches. As a junior, Hoef set the Iowa career hit-by-pitch record with 49, so far.
Curry, a native of Alexandria, MN, earned his second bid as an outfielder to the second team. The senior boasted team highs in hitting (.396), home runs (7), RBI (65), stolen bases (45), slugging percentage (.584) and sacrifice flies (8). Curry ranked well amongst other players in the conference, ranking in the top ten in seven different statistical categories. He became Iowa’s single-season stolen base leader and ranked fifth in the nation in his final season as a Hawkeye. Curry also tied the Iowa career sacrifice fly record of 15, which he established in only two seasons.
Toole, a shortstop from Council Bluffs, IA, earned his second bid to the third team. He hit .395, including a .390 clip in conference play. He was ranked in the top ten in nine statistical areas, including second in hits (87) and runs (61). The junior made his way into the school record book this season recording 25 consecutive games with a hit this season. The streak was the longest in the Big Ten and seventh-longest in the country this season. He also is second in Iowa single-season hits with 87, only four shy of the record.