October 27, 2010

(ROCHESTER, MN) The Northwoods League is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2010 Rawlings Big Stick Award. This award is given to the player at each position who had the best batting average during the 2010 regular season.

Drew Heithoff (Augustana) of the 2010 NWL Champion Eau Claire Express leads the 2010 Rawlings Big Stick Award list. Heithoff, a 2nd baseman, hit a league leading .389 and reached base at a .515 clip which was also good for 1st in the league.  Willmar Stinger Jordan Smith (St. Cloud State) finished a close second with a .374 batting average in the Stingers inaugural season.  The outfielder from Willmar, MN led the league in hits (95), triples (8), and was in the top five in at-bats (254) and slugging percentage (.528).  Joel Hutter (Dallas-Baptist) placed third on the 2010 Rawlings Big Stick list after a successful season in Green Bay as he hit .350 while playing 3rd base.

College teammates at Illinois, Adam Davis, Josh Parr and Matt Dittman, were awarded the Big Stick Award for their seasons.  Members of the Madison Mallards, Davis and Parr, earned the award at catcher and shortstop after hitting .328 and .307 respectively.  Dittman, a 1st baseman, earned the award after hitting .332 for the North Division Champion Rochester Honkers.  Kyle Gaedele (Valparaiso), a 2010 NWL All-Star, was the third Mallard to make the list with a .315 batting average.  John Schultz (Pittsburgh) of the St. Cloud River Bats makes the list as an outfielder after hitting .320 for the 2010 North Division 2nd Half Champions.

To honor their achievement the eight award winners will receive an engraved bat from Rawlings. The complete list of 2010 Rawlings Big Stick Award Winners is below.

Position Batter NWL Team College Average
1B Matt Dittman Rochester Illinois .332
2B Drew Heithoff Eau Claire Augustana (SD) .389
3B Joel Hutter Green Bay Dallas Baptist .350
SS Josh Parr Madison Illinois .307
C Adam Davis Madison Illinois .328
OF Jordan Smith Willmar St. Cloud State .374
OF Kyle Gaedele Madison Valparaiso .315
OF John Schultz St. Cloud Pittsburgh .320

To be eligible a player would’ve needed to have enough plate appearances to qualify for a batting title. A player must have a minimum of 2.7 plate appearances per team game.   Those players that saw time at more than one position qualify at the position they played most often.

The Northwoods League is a summer baseball league composed of 16 teams with top college players from across the United States.  With a family-oriented atmosphere, the Northwoods League has more teams, plays more games, and draws more fans than any other Summer Collegiate Baseball League in North America.  Franchises are located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and Canada.  To learn more, visit www.northwoodsleague.com.