May 21, 2003

Dayton, Ohio - For the second straight season, the University of Illinois at Chicago baseball team took three of the four major awards at the Horizon League Tournament Banquet, held at the Nutter Center on Wednesday night.

UIC led the All-League Team, placing seven players, including five first team selections. UW-Milwaukee landed six players, followed by Butler (4), Wright State (3), Cleveland State (2), Youngstown State (2) and Detroit (1).

Senior outfielder Chuck Peters claimed the Horizon League Player of the Year honors, while freshman pitcher Ryan Martin was named the League Newcomer of the Year and Head Coach Mike Dee repeated as Coach of the Year.

Peters leads the league in RBI (52) and slugging percentage (.626). The Orland Park, Ill., native is also third in the Horizon League in home runs (10) and fifth in both batting (.361) and on-base percentage (.442). Curtis Granderson took home Player of the Year honors in 2002.

Joining Peters on the first team are junior outfielder Mike Hughes, junior third baseman Nelson Gord, sophomore second baseman Bryan Russo and sophomore pitcher Ryan Gehring.

Hughes leads UIC with a batting average of .376 and is tied with Russo for the Horizon League lead in runs scored with 45.

Russo is batting .299 on the season and has four homers to go along with 24 RBI, while Gord is fifth on the squad with a .326 batting average and fourth with 29 RBI.

Juniors Brad Ryan and Jordan DeVoir were named to both the All-Horizon League Second Team along with the All-Newcomer squad. Ryan is third on the squad in both home runs (6) and RBI (36), while DeVoir leads UIC with 65 hits and is batting .343 on the season.

Martin has been flawless on the mound for the Flames this season as the Missoula, Mont. native is 6-0 on the campaign and is second in the Horizon League with an ERA of 2.33. Martin is the third consecutive UIC player to take home Newcomer of the Year honors, preceded by Mike Bruszer (2001) and Ryan Gehring (2002).

Dee captured League Coach of the Year honors for the fourth time in the last five years as the Flames successfully defended their regular-season title with a school-record 15 victories and finishing the regular season 35-16 after beginning the campaign 2-9.

2003 ALL-HORIZON LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM
First Team
C - Adam Cox, Youngstown State, Jr.
1B - Tim Poley, Detroit, Jr.
2B - Bryan Russo, UIC, So.
3B - Nelson Gord, UIC, Jr.
SS - Jared Lowe, Butler, Sr.
OF - Dale Mueller, Butler, So.
OF - Chuck Peters, UIC, Sr.
OF - Mike Hughes, UIC, Jr.
DH - Bryan Vickers, Wright State, So.
UT - Troy Doering, UW-Milwaukee, Sr.
P - Ryan Gehring, UIC, So.
P - Mikel Schaefer, UW-Milwaukee, Sr.

Second Team
C - Tim Marks, Butler, Sr.
1B - Dominic Erney, Cleveland State, So.
1B - Brad Ryan, UIC, Jr.
2B - Charlie Reschke, UW-Milwaukee, So.
3B - Ben Stanczyk, UW-Milwaukee, So.
SS - Jordan DeVoir, UIC, Jr.
OF - Dave Pudlosky, UW-Milwaukee, Sr.
OF - Chris Tuttle, Wright State, Sr.
OF - Kendall Schlabach, Youngstown State, Jr.
UT - Brian Beaumier, Cleveland State, Sr.
P - Aaron Phillips, Butler, Sr.
P - Casey Abrams, Wright State, Jr.

Player of the Year
Chuck Peters, UIC

Pitcher of the Year
Mikel Schaefer, UW-Milwaukee

Coach of the Year
Mike Dee, UIC

2003 All-Newcomer Team
2B - Jason Chapieski, Detroit, Fr.
SS - Jordan DeVoir, UIC, Jr.
1B - Brad Ryan, UIC, Jr.
SS - Steve Sanfilippo, UW-Milwaukee, So.
1B - Pat Masters, Wright State, Fr.
2B - Justin Banks, Youngstown State, Fr.
OF - Brandon Caipen, Youngstown State, Fr.
3B - Charles Schultz, Youngstown State, Fr.
UT - Gian Testa, Cleveland State, Fr.
P - Luke Behning, Butler, Fr.
P - Ryan Martin, UIC, Fr.

Newcomer of the Year
Ryan Martin, UIC