Putnam Earns ABCA All-American; Wilson All-Region
6/20/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Sophomore Zach Putnam (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer HS) of the University of Michigan baseball team was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and Rawlings All-America second team at the Utility position, as announced by the ABCA Wednesday (June 20).
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The Wolverines also had two members named to the 2007 ABCA and Rawlings All-Mideast Region team -- Putnam as the designated hitter on the first team, and sophomore Mike Wilson (Pickering, Ont./Pine Ridge Secondary) named to the second team as a pitcher.
Putnam and Wilson were both first team All-Big Ten selections for 2007. Putnam became the first player in conference history to earn first team All-Big Ten honors at two positions in the same season for baseball.
Putnam hit .330 with eight homers, 59 RBI and a team-leading total of nine game-winning RBI to become the first team All-Big Ten DH. He was named first team starting pitcher with an 8-5 record and a 3.87 ERA for the season. Putnam led the Wolverine pitching staff in wins (8), starts (15), innings pitched (102.1) and strikeouts (87).
Wilson was 7-1 with a 3.52 ERA and 64 strikeouts in 71.2 innings.
Putnam has taken home lots of hardware as a result of his brilliant 2007 campaign. He won the Ray Fisher Award (Most Valuable Player) and the Geoff Zahn Award (Most Valuable Pitcher) as voted by his teammates and was named NCAA Division I District V Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association on June 8. Wilson shared the Betty Simmons Award (Most Improved Player) with sophomore shortstop Jason Christian (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland).
The Wolverines (42-19, 21-7 Big Ten) captured the Big Ten championship for the second straight season -- a Big Ten-record 34th title for the program -- and captured the NCAA Nashville Regional by beating top-ranked host Vanderbilt twice. U-M ended the dream season with losses to eventual 2007 national champion Oregon State in the NCAA Corvallis Super Regional on June 10-11.
Putnam pitched 8.2 innings of no-hit baseball in the 1-0 loss in the opener at Oregon State. The Beavers' only hit -- a two-out single -- knocked in the winning run. Wilson suffered his only loss of the season in the final game of the year against OSU despite four strikeouts in the first inning -- a feat featured as one of ESPN's defensive gems of the night.
Contact: Jim Schneider (734) 763-4423
