AU Baseball Coach Receives ABCA Award

AURORA, Ill. January 20, 2005 - Shaun Neitzel, head baseball coach at Aurora University, was honored at the January American Baseball Coaches Association convention in Nashville, Tenn.

Neitzel received the ABCA/Diamond Sports Company NCAA Division III Central Regional Coach of the Year award at the convention’s Hall of Fame/Coach of the Year Banquet.

Neitzel guided Aurora’s program to a third-place finish (28-19 overall record) in the 2004 NCAA Division III Baseball Championships. The Spartans advanced to the Championships following their impressive showing at the Central Regional at Illinois Wesleyan University. The sixth seed in the six-team regional, the Spartans went 4-0, dismantling their opponents by a combined score of 58 to 20 with a .431 team batting average.

In two years at the helm of the AU baseball program, Neitzel has continued in the winning tradition for the Spartans. A tradition spanning the last 15 seasons (1990 to 2004), AU has the third-best winning percentage in the nation (.751), 459-152-4, and has made 13 post-season appearances, including NCAA Division III World Series appearances in 1990, 1992, 1998, 1999, and 2004.

The 2005 Spartans begin this season’s schedule on Saturday, March 5, when they take on Albion College at 4:00 p.m. in Fort Myers, Florida, on their annual spring trip.

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