Record-Setting Bruins Finish with No. 12 National Ranking

Reliever Chad Jones, a Third Team All-West Region and First Team All-NWC choice, ranked 15th nationally in saves (7), 26th in earned run average (2.17), and 38th in wins (8).

Salem-News.com Sports

NEWBERG, Ore. - After another record-setting season in 2009, the George Fox University Bruins finished the year with a No. 12 ranking in the final NCAA Division III D3baseball.com national poll as voted on by the website’s panel of 25 coaches, sports information directors, and media members from around the country, the second-highest ranking at the end of the season in Bruin history.

Only the 2004 team, which went 40-10 and won the D-III World Series to earn the No. 1 spot in the nation, had a higher final ranking that this year’s Bruins. Prior to that, the 2003 team was ranked 14th after compiling a 31-13 record and finishing second in the West Regional to eventual national champion Chapman University. George Fox has been ranked in the final Top 30 seven times in the last 11 seasons and has appeared in the NCAA National Tournament eight of the last 10 years, including the last four in a row.

The 2009 Bruins under second-year coach Marty Hunter went 36-11, posting the second-most wins in a season only to the 2004 squad. Their regular-season record of 33-9 set a new standard for most wins before post-season play. George Fox’s record of 306-132 and winning percentage of .699 over the last 10 years places them 19th nationally in total wins in Division III during that time, and 20th in winning percentage. The leaders over the past 10 years are the College of Wooster in wins (372-98) and the College of St. Scholastica in percentage (.819, 365-80-2).

George Fox was among the national leaders in numerous categories at the end of the 2009 season, including 1st in sacrifice flies with 40. In batting statistics, the Bruins finished 3rd in average (.367), 5th in fielding percentage (.969) and double plays (51), 7th in hits (589), 8th in slugging percentage (.546), 10th in runs (449), 11th in sacrifice bunts (42), 12th in hit by pitches (74) and double plays per game (1.09), 17th in doubles (112) and winning percentage (.766), 18th in scoring (9.6), 22nd in walks (204), 25th in home runs (48), 33rd in home runs per game (1.02), and 38th in doubles per game (2.38). On the mound, they were 46th in earned run average (4.49) and 48th in hits allowed per 9 innings (9.78).

Individually, left fielder Matt Wyckoff, the Northwest Conference Player of the Year and an ABCA First Team All-American, ranked 6th in runs (68) and runs batted in (71), 7th in total bases (139), 9th in hits (84), 16th in runs per game (1.45), 18th in RBIs per game (1.51), 21st in sacrifice flies (6), 37th in batting average (.447) and doubles (18), and 50th in slugging percentage (.739). Second baseman Bo Thunell, an ABCA Second Team All-American and First Team All-NWC, ranked 26th in doubles (19), 35th in RBIs (58), 47th in doubles per game (0.44), and 50th in toughest to strike out (19.9).

Center fielder Kyle Kuenzi, who was Second Team All-NWC, ranked 3rd in runs (72), 8th in triples (8), 9th in runs per game (1.53), 13th in sacrifice bunts (10), 20th in sacrifices per game (0.21), and 22nd in triples per game (0.17). Right fielder Dan Winterstein, a Second Team All-NWC selection, was 21st in sacrifice flies (6) and 29th in hits (74). Shortstop Taylor Hunter ranked 13th in sacrifice bunts (10), 18th in sacrifices per game (0.22), and 26th in hit by pitches (15). Utility player Cody Curtin was 50th in sacrifice flies (5).

Reliever Chad Jones, a Third Team All-West Region and First Team All-NWC choice, ranked 15th nationally in saves (7), 26th in earned run average (2.17), and 38th in wins (8).

Re-writing the George Fox record books, the Bruins posted a new single-season mark for hits (589) with the second-highest average (.367) in a season. Wyckoff set a new single-season hits record with 84 and had a 28-game hitting streak, one short of the school record. Thunell broke the career record for sacrifice flies (12). Kuenzi tied the record for triples in a season (8) while setting new marks for runs in a season (72) and triples in a career (12). Jones established a new Bruin record for saves in a season (7). Kuenzi tied single-game records for at bats (7 vs. Pacific Lutheran on May 7) and stolen bases (4 vs. Lewis & Clark on March 9). Thunell tied the record for doubles in a game (3 at Pacific on March 9).

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