May 12, 2003
BSU lands three on all-conference first team

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Five Bemidji State baseball players were named to the 2003 All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Team, league officials announced today. Shaun Ross, Brian Beuning and Jon Czech were named to the All-NSIC First Team, while Tyler Norland and Brad Johnson earned honorable-mention all-league honors.

• Beuning, a senior from Sauk Centre, Minn., earned First-Team All-NSIC honors for the second consecutive season as BSU’s starting shortstop and closer. He led the conference in pitching appearances (19) and games finished (18) and was second in the league with six saves. For the season, Beuning posted a 2-3 record with a 4.45 ERA. He struck out 36 batters in just 28.1 innings pitched (11.43 K/9 IP) and walked only three batters all season. Beuning’s three walks issued were the fewest of any pitcher in the NSIC with at least 25 innings pitched.

Beuning finished 33rd in the league in hitting with a .288 average. He had 40 hits, three doubles and six RBI. He also led the team and finished seventh in the league with 12 stolen bases.

• Czech, a junior transfer from Little Falls, Minn., earned his first All-NSIC honor. As BSU’s primary third baseman, Czech led the team in hitting (.373, ninth in the NSIC), slugging (.603, 11th), on-base percentage (.452, ninth) and base hits (47, t-12th). He led the squad with 17 multiple-hit games, and tied for second on the roster with two three-hit games, and tied for second on the team with two multiple-RBI efforts. Czech tied for the team lead with five home runs and finished second to Shaun Ross with 25 RBI. He also led the team with 18 extra-base hits.

From his third-base position, Czech recorded 37 assists, third-most on the team. He also tied for seventh in the league with 12 doubles and tied for 10th with 76 total bases.

• Ross, a junior from Bemidji, Minn., joins Beuning as a repeat First-Team All-NSIC selection from 2002. Despite missing six games early in the season with an akle injury, Ross still finished the season second on the team with a .345 batting average, 20th in the NSIC. He led the squad with 34 RBI (13th in the NSIC) and tied for the team lead with five home runs. He was third on the team with 11 multi-hit games, and tied for second with two three-hit efforts. He led the Beavers with eight multiple-RBI games, recorded two of the team’s three four-RBI games and had the only five-RBI game by a BSU player this season.

Playing primarily at catcher and first base, but also seeing some late-season time in the outfield, Ross finished the season with 176 fielding chances, 10th in the NSIC and second on the team only to Beuning (185). Ross struck out just 10 times in 110 at-bats (.091).

Johnson and Norland earned Honorable-Mention All-NSIC honors, the first All-Conference honors of their respective careers.

Johnson was BSU’s third-leading hitter, finishing with a .342 average. He was second on the team with 41 base hits, one of just three BSU players with 40 or more hits last season. He also finished second on the team in on-base percentage (.429) and was third in RBI (21) and slugging percentage (.408). He struck out just 15 times in 120 at-bats (.125).

Norland played both as a pitcher and in the field, but made his biggest impact on the hill. In eight starts, he posted a 3-3 record with a team-leading 4.50 ERA. He earned the start in two of BSU’s three shutouts, including a complete-game four-hitter against Southwest State. He was second on the team in innings pitched (44.0) and strikeouts (38), trailing only Al Ryan in both categories. Norland finished with a .205 average at the plate with 15 hits and eight RBI.

Bemidji State finished its 2003 baseball campaign with a 15-27 overall record, an even 11-11 in NSIC play. The 2003 Beavers played 40 or more games for just the ninth time in school history, with the team’s 42 games tied for seventh-most in a season in school history. in addition, the team was one of just seven in school history to win 10 or more conference games. The team’s 11 NSIC wins under first-year head coach Chris Brown marked the program’s second-most ever under a rookie head coach.