AU Baseball Coach Receives ABCA Award

AURORA, Ill. January 9, 2007 - Shaun Neitzel, Head Baseball Coach at Aurora University, was honored at the January American Baseball Coaches Association convention in Orlando, FL.

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. The award is the second in the last three seasons for Neitzel, the other coming at the 2005 ABCA Convention.

Neitzel guided AU’s program to a seventh-place finish (34-14 overall record) in the 2006 NCAA Division III Baseball Championships. The Spartans advanced to the championships following their impressive showing at the Central Regional at Washington University–St. Louis. The Spartans overcame an early loss in the regional and went on to advance to the NCAA Championships by defeating Millsaps College twice on the championship day. Millsaps was the team that had knocked the Spartans into the loser’s bracket.

Entering his fifth year at the helm of the AU baseball program, Neitzel has continued in the winning tradition for the Spartans. A tradition spanning the last 17 seasons (1990 to 2006), AU has the fourth-best winning percentage in the nation (.750), 527-175-4, and has made 15 post-season appearances, including NCAA Division III World Series appearances in 1990, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2006.

The 2007 Spartans, ranked 12th in the preseason Collegiate Baseball News Division III poll, begin this season’s schedule on Saturday, March 3, when they travel to Pheonix, AZ, on their annual spring trip.

- END -