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Augsburg
Athletics 2003-04 Year In Review:
Spring Sports
For
Fall Sports Year in Review -- Click here
For
Winter Sports Year in Review -- Click here
2003-04
Athletic Awards -- Click here
Baseball | Softball
| Men's/Women's Track and Field |
For
Men's Golf and Women's Golf, see Fall Review -- click here
Baseball
Under first-year head
coach Keith Bateman, Augsburg finished the 2004 season 16-22
overall and 7-13 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Augsburg nearly doubled its overall victory total from each of the previous
two seasons nine wins each in 2002 and 2003. Augsburg loses just four
players to graduation. As a team, Augsburg hit .322 and had a 6.27 team
ERA.
Augsburg went 6-6 at
its season-opening appearance at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in
Fort Myers, Fla., then split five of its 10 doubleheaders in league
play. One of the highlights of the Auggies' season came in a 4-3 victory
over conference champion and NCAA Division III national playoff entrant
St. Thomas on April 3, breaking an 11-season, 22-game losing streak
to the Tommies. Augsburg also split league doubleheaders with Bethel,
St. John's, Hamline and Macalester, and swept Carleton by a 28-2 margin
on April 24.
Pitcher Jeremy Nelson
(So., Maplewood, Minn./Roseville HS) was named to the All-MIAC team.
Augsburg's most dominant pitcher this season, Nelson compiled a 5-4
record and 2.91 earned-run average, both tops among Auggie regulars.
He started 10 games and threw six complete games, compiling a team-high
58.2 innings of work. He struck out 33 batters against just 15 walks,
and allowed an opponent batting average of .269. In league play, Nelson
compiled a 3-3 record and 3.57 ERA in six appearances (four complete
games). His ERA ranked eighth-best among MIAC pitchers in conference
games.
Nelson pitched four
straight victories early in the season, including two of the team's
highlight wins -- the 3-1 triumph over St. Thomas on April 3, and a
1-0, nine-inning shutout victory at St. John's on April 12. He earned
MIAC Pitcher of the Week honors for his efforts against the Tommies.
Softball
Under head coach Carol
Enke, Augsburg finished the 2004 season 9-27 overall and 5-17 in
the MIAC. Augsburg swept league rival Macalester and split league doubleheaders
with Concordia-Moorhead, St. Olaf and St. Catherine this year. Augsburg
loses just four players to graduation. As a team, Augsburg hit .208
and had a 4.55 team ERA.
Infielders Melissa
Lee (Sr., Cannon Falls, Minn./Randolph HS) and Kristen Lideen
(Sr., Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS) were named to the All-MIAC softball
team. Lideen became one of only two seniors in 2004 to be named to the
All-MIAC first team each of their four seasons, while Lee earned All-MIAC
first-team honors for the first time, after being named honorable-mention
all-conference her sophomore and junior seasons.
Lideen, who earned
National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-American third-team honors
last year and All-Region honors each of her first three seasons as an
Auggie, closed her collegiate softball career with a unique streak.
Lideen did not strike out in either her junior or senior seasons, finishing
with a streak of 205 plate appearances and 185 at-bats in a row without
a strikeout.
She battled injuries
that forced her to miss 17 of Augsburg's 36 games this season. Lideen
finished her career as Augsburg's all-time leader in batting average
(.444), hits (175) and doubles (38), while ranking second in stolen
bases (44), total bases (237) and slugging percentage (.602), fifth
in home runs (4), seventh in fewest strikeouts (11) and triples (6),
and ninth in runs scored (85). She also appears in Augsburg's single-season
records 13 times. Lideen was named Augsburg's female Senior Athlete
of the Year in April.
Lee will go down as
one of the "ironwomen" of Auggie softball history. Augsburg's third-baseman
finished her career playing in every inning and starting every game
of her four-year career -- 141 games, 141 starts and 964 innings. Lee,
who earned NFCA All-Region honors her sophomore year, closed her career
with a .296 batting average, and ranks ninth in school history in hits
(121), doubles (21) and total bases (152), while ranking second all-time
in hit-by-pitch (9). She also has a career .962 fielding percentage.
Lee earned Augsburg
Senior Honor Athlete honors in April, the highest honor the school awards
to senior student-athletes.
Men's/Women's
Track and Field
Augsburg athletes completed
one of the best track and field seasons in recent years, as the Auggies
earned All-American honors in two events, won Minnesota Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference titles in eight events, and set school records in
24 different events in the indoor and outdoor seasons.
In the indoor half of
the campaign, sprinters Mathew Shannon (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn
HS) and Tonnisha Bell (So., Minneapolis, Minn./Washburn HS) earned
Most Outstanding Performance honors at the MIAC meet. Shannon, who also
earned MIAC Most Outstanding Indoor Track Athlete and USA Track and
Field Minnesota Athlete of the Month honors, set an MIAC record in winning
the men's 400-meter dash in 48.78 seconds. He also won the 55-meter
dash in a school-record-tying 6.49 seconds and finished second in the
200-meter dash in a school-record 22.20 seconds. The performance brought
his All-MIAC honors to 17, the most ever for an Augsburg men's track
and field athlete.
Meanwhile, Bell set
a school and MIAC meet record in winning the women's 200-meter dash
in 25.52 seconds, breaking the school record for the second time this
season and shattering the old MIAC meet record by nearly a half-second.
Bell also finished second to teammate Alanna Carter (So., St.
Paul, Minn./Central HS) in the women's 55-meter dash.
Shannon, Bell and Carter
qualified for the NCAA Division III indoor national championships, along
with a remarkable women's distance-medley relay squad of Ellen Waldow
(So., Lanesboro, Minn.), Carter, Hannah Dietrich (Jr., Luverne,
Minn.) and Angie Bergeson (So., Red Wing, Minn.), who became
the first Augsburg relay squad to ever earn All-American honors, finishing
seventh nationally. Shannon earned his All-American honors for the third
time in his career with a fifth-place finish in the men's 400-meter
dash.
In the outdoor season,
Augsburg continued to shine in individual events. At the MIAC meet,
Jon Dahlin (Sr., St. Louis Park, Minn.) won a conference title
for the first time, as he blistered the old school record in the hammer
throw. During the course of the outdoor season, Dahlin improved the
Augsburg school record in the hammer throw by 8.51 meters -- 27-feet,
11-inches -- during the outdoor season, ending with a school-record
54.01 meters (177-feet, 2-inches).
Also at the outdoor
meet, Carter earned an MIAC individual title for the second time in
her career, as she and teammate Bell claimed the top two places in the
women's 100-meter dash. Carter also placed second in the women's 200-meter
dash.
Waldow was part of both
an individual and relay conference title for the first time in her outdoor
career. She won the conference title in the women's 800-meter run in
a school-record 2:16.36, breaking a school record set earlier by Bergeson.
Waldow and Bergeson joined teammates Amy Mackner (Sr., Barnesville,
Minn.) and Dietrich in claiming the MIAC title in the women's 3,200-meter
relay, with a winning time of 9:21.51 that eclipsed the previous school
record by 24 seconds.
Shannon qualified for
his fourth straight NCAA Division III national meet, making the outdoor
nationals in the 400-meter dash, but failed to qualify for the finals,
finishing with the ninth-best time in the preliminaries. Carter and
Bell also qualified for nationals in both the women's 100- and 200-meter
dashes, as Augsburg was the lone school nationally to have two individuals
qualify for both events. Both were close to earning All-American honors
in both events, but did not qualify for the finals.
In the indoor MIAC meet,
both Augsburg's men's squad placed sixth, while the Auggie women placed
seventh. In the outdoor MIAC meet, Augsburg's men placed 11th, while
the Auggie women placed eighth.
For
Fall Sports Year in Review -- Click here
For
Winter Sports Year in Review -- Click here
2003-04
Athletic Awards -- Click here
To return to Augsburg Athletics,
click here
Augsburg
College, a college of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church in America, is a member of the Minnesota
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) and the National
Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III.
This
is the official web site for Augsburg College athletics.
All comments or questions regarding this web site should be directed
to Sports Information Coordinator Don Stoner -- E-mail: stoner@augsburg.edu
Phone: (612) 330-1677.
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