Big Ten Conference Announces Baseball Postseason Awards

ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Big Ten Conference announced Tuesday baseball awards winners for the 2025 season. Voting was conducted by the conference’s head coaches and included, for the first time, a Defensive Player of the Year Award and an All-Defensive Team.

UCLA sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky (Rock chuh-LAU-skee) was named Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Michigan State junior Joseph Dzierwa (Ger-wa) earned Pitcher of the Year honors and Indiana first baseman Jake Hanley received the Freshman of the Year Award. Oregon’s Mark Wasikowski was voted Coach of the Year by his peers.

Cholowsky has produced a .371 batting average with 20 home runs and 63 RBI in 54 games. His home run total is the most by a Bruin since 2009. A native of Chandler, Ariz., Cholowsky paces the Big Ten with a 1.274 OPS and a .511 on-base percentage. He also ranks 10^th in NCAA fielding percentage (.981) and is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, presented to the top amateur baseball player in the nation.

A 6-foot-8, left-handed starter, Dzierwa sports an 8-3 record with a 2.31 ERA and 98 strikeouts over 85.2 innings pitched. The Haskins, Ohio native has held opponents to a .193 batting average and was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week four times, matching a conference season record. A Golden Spikes Award semifinalist, Dzierwa is the second Spartan to be named Big Ten Pitcher of the Year and the first since 2011.

A starter in all 54 games, Hanley leads Big Ten freshmen with 71 hits, 14 home runs and 52 RBI. This season Hanley has slashed .338/.434/.590 and compiled a 1.024 OPS. The Mason, Ohio product was twice named Big Ten Freshman of the Week. He becomes the third Indiana player to be named Big Ten Freshman of the Year and the second Hoosier in three years to receive the honor.

Wasikowski led Oregon to a share of the conference regular season title in the Ducks’ first season in the Big Ten. Oregon paces the Big Ten with 41 wins and has been nationally ranked the entire season, climbing as high as No. 2 in the Perfect Game poll. Wasikowski’s squad is the No. 1 seed for the Big Ten Baseball Tournament Presented by IFS.ai, which began today and runs through Sunday at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Neb.

The Big Ten also recognized 17 Sportsmanship Award recipients, honoring student-athletes who distinguished themselves through sportsmanship, ethical behavior, academics and citizenship.

2025 BIG TEN BASEBALL POSTSEASON AWARDS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Roch…