May 16, 2001

CHICAGO - UWM's Darin Haugom was named the Midwestern Collegiate Conference Baseball Player of the Year as Panther players swept the league's top post-season honors, announced Wednesday night at the annual MCC Baseball Championship Banquet.

Quintin Oldenburg was named the MCC Pitcher of the Year, while John VandenBerg won Co-Newcomer of the Year honors. Jerry Augustine was named the MCC Coach of the Year.

Haugom leads the Panthers in batting average and is on pace to set a Division I school record with his .441 mark. Haugom is UWM's career leader in hits, runs, triples and stolen bases. Despite missing seven games and nine starts with a hamstring injury, Haugom has six home runs, 45 RBI, and 20 stolen bases in 41 starts. He also has 24 multi-hit games this season, and has recorded hitting streaks of 14 and 11 games, hitting safely in 38 of his 41 starts.

Oldenburg has set a school record by winning nine games this season, and he is UWM's all-time career ERA leader. His 3.35 ERA this season is the best among the Panther starting rotation, and ranks him second among starters in the MCC. He pitched a four-hit shutout against Creighton April 14 and went 5-0 during April.

VandenBerg, a transfer from Northern Illinois, hit .362 during the regular season and leads the team with 10 home runs. He was named the MCC Player of the Week after hitting three home runs, including two in one game, in a series with Evansville. Splitting his time between catcher, first base, and designated hitter, VandenBerg had his 17-game hitting streak broken Sunday. VandenBerg shared the newcomer award with Mike Bruszer of UIC and Trent Matthews of Wright State. This is the fourth straight year a UWM player has won the MCC Newcomer of the Year Award.

Augustine won coach of the year honors for the second straight time and for the third time overall. He won his 200th game in Saturday's game one win over Butler, and is the winningest baseball coach in UWM history.

Haugom and Oldenburg were also named to the All-MCC First Team, along with Panthers Eric Goerdt and Scott Gillitzer.

Goerdt was named to the team in the outfield, where he hit .397 for the regular season. He is second on the team with nine home runs and leads the team with 59 RBI. Goerdt had an 18-game hitting streak earlier this season, and has 21 multi-hit games, including three, four-hit games.

Gillitzer set a school record with his 22-game hitting streak, and is second on the team with a .409 batting average. He is second on the team with nine home runs and 57 RBI. He has 28 multi-hit games, including a five-hit game and a four-hit game. He his safely in 44 of his 51 appearances this season.

VandenBerg was named to the All-MCC Second Team along with Steve Guden, who split his time between third base and catcher this season. Guden hit .380 during the regular season with two, four-hit game and two, three-hit games. He went 10-for-14 in the four-game series with Wright State, winning him MCC Player of the Week honors. Guden went 20-for-39 over the last 14 games of the season.

The Panthers (35-16) won the outright, regular season MCC championship for the first time in school history. UWM opens MCC Tournament play Thursday morning in Chicago against Detroit. The first pitch is set for 11 a.m.