Northwestern University Athletics
Joe Hietpas Named GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America
5/31/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 31, 2000
EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern University baseball player Joe Hietpas (Appleton, Wis./North) was named to the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America Baseball Second Team. The teams were announced today after being voted on by members of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
This marks the second year in a row that Hietpas -- who boasts a 3.80 Grade Point Average in Economics -- was a member of the GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-America Baseball Second Team. The first-team catcher this year was Casey Myers of Arizona State, who boasts a 4.0 GPA in Mathematics.
Hietpas, a junior catcher, was one of Northwestern's best players offensively and defensively this spring. He topped the team with a .376 batting average, and also led the Wildcats with 19 doubles, five home runs and 50 runs batted in. In addition, he boasted a team-high 14 games with two or more RBI, and had 22 games with two or more hits. Defensively, he threw out 19 of 51 potential base stealers (37.3%) including 13 of 27 in Big Ten play (48.2%).
In March, Hietpas was named Big Ten Player of the Week after earning Most Valuable Player honors at the Homestead (Fla.) Challenge. In that event, he went 7-for-13 (.538) at the plate with five runs and four RBI. In the championship game against Ohio State, he went 3-for-5 with three runs and two RBI.
Overall, the Northwestern baseball team went 30-27, getting 30 wins for the first time since 1995 and the third time in the 13-year tenure of head coach Paul Stevens. In addition, the Wildcats advanced to the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 1995 before succumbing to Minnesota (8-4) and Ohio State (4-2).
