Burton, Hajjar Highlight Eight Wolverines to Earn All-Big Ten Honors

ROSEMONT, Ill. -- The University of Michigan baseball team garnered eight All-Big Ten selections as the conference announced its 2021 award recipients Sunday afternoon (May 30).

Named to the first team were sophomore second baseman Ted Burton and junior pitcher Steven Hajjar.

Four Wolverines earned second team honors, including graduate student catcher Griffin Mazur, graduate student shortstop Benjamin Sems, sophomore outfielder Tito Flores and sophomore pitcher Cameron Weston.

Sophomore first baseman Jimmy Obertop and junior closer Willie Weiss earned third team honors, and graduate student Joe Pace was honored as Michigan's Sportsmanship Award recipient.

Entering Sunday's final day of Big Ten Conference play, Burton ranks second in the league in slugging percentage (.673) while ranking third in batting average (.355). He leads the Wolverines with a .445 on-base percentage and has hit safely in 17 of his last 20 games, a span in which he is batting .387 (29-for-75), with 10 doubles, one triple, six home runs, 25 RBI and 19 runs scored.

Hajjar leads a fearsome pitching duo alongside Weston, with the left-handed Hajjar owning a 4-1 record, a 2.85 earned-run average (fifth best in the conference) and 101 strikeouts in 72.5 innings of work against just 58 hits for a paltry .206 batting average against. In his regular-season finale at league-leading No. 20-ranked Nebraska on Friday (May 28), Hajjar threw a complete-game four-hitter with five strikeouts. Hajjar enters the postseason in ninth place on Michigan's single-season strikeouts list with 101 and within reach of fifth place.

Weston highlights Michigan's second-teamers with a conference-best seven wins (7-3), a 2.40 ERA and a .214 batting average against. Owner of the second-lowest ERA in the Big Ten, Weston enters the postseason not having allowed more than one earned run in any of his last four starts with two shutout efforts. Over those four outings, he has limited teams to 12 hits in 26.1 innings, while striking out 23 and issuing just six walks.

Sems sports a .321 batting average, a .395 on-base percentage and a team-high 52 hits while driving in 30 runs and playing sensational defense at the shortstop position. Sems has hit safely in 22 of the past 26 games.

Flores, a Detroit, Mich., native, burst onto the scene from the start of the season and finished on a tear, hitting safely in 15 of the final 16 regular-season games. Overall, he ranks ninth in the league with a .327 batting average with 21 extra-base hits and a team-high 36 runs batted in to go with a .432 on-base percentage.

Mazur had a phenomenal year as Michigan's backstop. He threw out better than 38 percent of would-be base stealers and logged career highs in extra-base hits (13), home runs (six) and RBI (33).

Despite being hobbled for the last half of the season by a leg injury, Obertop was recognized by Big Ten coaches as a considerable threat in the heart of Michigan's batting order. The sophomore batted .272 and led U-M with 10 home runs, finishing with 20 extra-base hits and 33 RBI.

Weiss logged his second career all-conference honor, following a sensational campaign in which he recorded 51 percent of his outs via strikeout (38 Ks in 25.1 IP) while holding opposing hitters to a .172 average and just three extra-base hits.

2021 Big Ten Awards

Player of the Year: Spencer Schwellenbach, Nebraska
Pitcher of the Year: Trenton Wallace, Iowa
Freshman of the Year: Max Anderson, Nebraska
Coach of the Year: Will Bolt, Nebraska

All-Big Ten First Team
C -- Luke Roskam, Nebraska
1B -- Anthony Calarco, Northwestern
2B -- Ted Burton, Michigan
SS -- Benjamin Cowles, Maryland
3B -- Jackson Raper, Illinois
OF -- Grant Richardson, Indiana
OF -- Ben Norman, Iowa
OF -- Jaxon Hallmark, Nebraska
SP -- Trenton Wallace, Iowa
SP -- Steven Hajjar, Michigan
SP -- Cade Povich, Nebraska
RP -- Spencer Schwellenbach, Nebraska
DH -- Justin Janas, Illinois
At-Large -- Shawn Goosenberg, Northwestern

All-Big Ten Second Team
C -- Griffin Mazur, Michigan
1B -- Conner Pohl, Ohio State
2B -- Zack Raabe, Minnesota
SS -- Benjamin Sems, Michigan
3B -- Max Anderson, Nebraska
OF -- Chris Alleyne, Maryland
OF -- Tito Flores, Michigan
OF -- Kade Kern, Ohio State
SP -- McCade Brown, Indiana
SP -- Gabe Bierman, Indiana
SP -- Cameron Weston, Michigan
RP -- Ryan Ramsey, Maryland
DH -- Matt Wood, Penn State
At-Large -- Michael Trautwein, Northwestern

All-Big Ten Third Team*
C -- Ryan Hampe, Illinois
1B -- Jimmy Obertop, Michigan
2B -- Izaya Fullard, Iowa
SS -- Branden Comia, Illinois
3B -- Chris Brito, Rutgers
OF -- Zaid Walker, Michigan State
OF -- Ben Nisle, Purdue
OF -- Miles Simington, Purdue
SP -- Andrew Hoffmann, Illinois
SP -- Garrett Burhenn, Ohio State
SP -- Seth Lonsway, Ohio State
RP -- Willie Weiss, Michigan
RP -- TJ Brock, Ohio State
DH -- Mike Bolton, Purdue
At-Large -- Cole Barr, Indiana

*Additional honorees due to ties

All-Big Ten Freshman Team
C -- Luke Shliger, Maryland
2B -- Paul Toetz, Indiana
SS -- Mitch Jebb, Michigan State
3B -- Max Anderson, Nebraska
OF -- Morgan Colopy, Indiana
OF -- Kade Kern, Ohio State
OF -- Ryan Lasko, Rutgers
SP -- Riley Gowens, Illinois
SP -- Jason Savacool, Maryland
SP -- Nick Powers, Michigan State
RP -- John Modugno, Indiana
DH -- Ethan O'Donnell, Northwestern
At-Large -- Matthew Shaw, Maryland
At-Large -- Brice Matthews, Nebraska

Sportsmanship Award Honorees
Nate Lavender, Illinois
Collin Hopkins, Indiana
Grant Leonard, Iowa
Elliot Zoellner, Maryland
Joe Pace, Michigan
Andrew Morrow, Michigan State
Jack Wassel, Minnesota
Joe Acker, Nebraska
Charlie Bourbon, Northwestern
Joe Gahm, Ohio State
Conor Larkin, Penn State
Trent Johnson, Purdue
Kyle Muller, Rutgers

• Big Ten Release