Whitman And Duncan Headline All-MAC Awards
5/23/2023 11:11:00 AM | Baseball
KENT- Joe Whitman was named the Mid-American Conference Pitcher of the Year and Head Coach Jeff Duncan took home Coach of the Year honors, highlighting the conference baseball awards.
Nine Golden Flashes in total took home an All-Conference honor, including six on the first team. Catcher Justin Miknis, first baseman Aidan Longwell, outfielder Collin Mathews and pitchers Ben Cruikshank and Mitchell Scott join Whitman on the first team. Mack Timbrook was named second-team all-conference at second base while Longwell and Mathews earned all-defensive team honors.
Whitman becomes the 14th Golden Flash to earn Pitcher of the Year honors since 1990 and the first since Joey Murray in 2018. The lefty went a perfect 7-0 in 10 conference starts and led the conference with a 2.53 earned run average. Whitman never allowed more than four runs in a MAC start and allowed zero or one run on six different occasions.
Miknis hit .336 in conference play and ranked in the top-12 in the conference in average, hits, runs scored, runs batted in and doubles. He also handled the conference's top pitching staff while throwing out over a quarter of base stealers.
Longwell hit .403 in MAC play while finishing second in hits (47) and runs batted in (34) in MAC play while leading the conference with seven sac flies. He was held hitless in only four games while hitting over .500 with runners on and runners in scoring position. Defensively, Longwell handled all 251 chances at first base and had a hand in 20 double plays.
Mathews hit .365 in MAC play, hitting safely in 24 of 29 games. He finished second in the conference with 12 hit by pitches, leading to a team-leading .469 on-base percentage and 36 runs scored. Mathews also had a team-best 11 steals in MAC play while finishing second to Longwell in rbi with 29. Defensively, Mathews had a pair of outfield assists, he threw out the tying run at home plate in the second game at Eastern Michigan, a game Kent State went on to win.
Cruikshank went 5-1 in MAC play with a 3.86 earned run average. He had five starts in MAC play allowing either one or zero runs in the start. His 64 strikeouts led the team and his .229 batting average against was among the MAC's best.
Scott led the NCAA with 14 saves on the season, including a MAC-best nine saves in conference play. The righty was lights out in 24 innings, pitching to a 1.09 earned run average and struck out 35 batters and held batters to a .160 average. An a-typical closer, he had eight multi-inning saves in conference play.
Timbrook hit .294 in 28 conference games at second base for the Flashes. He scored 31 runs, good for second on the team and sixth in the league. He crossed home six times in a game against Ball State, the first Golden Flash to do that since 2009. He also led the team with five sacrifices. He also was an excellent infield partner with Michael McNamara, turning 16 double plays.
Duncan earns his fourth MAC Coach of the Year honor and first since he won three straight from 2016-18. Picked third in the pre-season poll, he guided the Flashes to 24 wins, tying the program record for conference wins in a season and the 16th regular season title in program history. This season, the Flashes led the MAC in average, runs scored, doubles and on-base percentage. Kent State also led the league with a 3.89 team ERA in conference, tossing four shutouts and leading the MAC with a .232 batting average against.
The Golden Flashes host the 2023 Mid-American Conference baseball tournament. The four-team, double elimination tournament starts on Wednesday at 12:30 when the Flashes host Western Michigan. All tournament games will stream on ESPN +.
