Major midseason honors for baseball from the Princetonian

With the Ivy League baseball season passing its midpoint last weekend, it is time to acknowledge the outstanding efforts that have led Princeton to an 8-4 conference start, good for a first-place tie in the Gehrig Division with upcoming opponent Columbia. Here are the Tiger baseball midseason awards as decided by the three Princetonian staffers covering the sport.

The Andruw Jones Award: Defensive Outfielder

Nominees: Adam Balkan, Eric Fitzgerald, Ryan Reich Winner: Balkan. The starting center fielder leads all Tiger outfielders with 54 put outs and is the only player with more than six chances (56) to still maintain a perfect fielding percentage.

The Omar Vizquel Award: Defensive Infielder

Nominees: Mike Chernoff, Ryan Eldridge, Tim Lahey Winner: Eldridge. Among these candidates, the first-baseman has the high in chances (213), put outs (195), fielding percentage (.981) and double plays (15).

The Scott Schoenweiss Award: Best Pitcher

Nominees: Ross Ohlendorf, Thomas Pauly, Mark Siano, Jason Vaughan Winner: Pauly. The closer's 0.40 ERA, six saves, and 25 strikeouts in just 11 appearances and 22.1 innings pitched makes teams fear knocking a Tiger starter out of the game.

The Tony Gwynn Award: Best Hitter

Nominees: Adam Balkan, Pat Boran, Jon Miller Winner: Boran. Balkan and Miller are no easy task for opposing pitchers, but the shortstop leads the team in batting average (.321) and on-base percentage (.405) in the spot where a manager wants it most — the leadoff. Throw in his team-leading totals in hits (34), runs batted in (24), and slugging percentage (.462) and the debate is over.

The John Olerud Award: Best Senior Performance

Nominees: Pat Boran, Tom Rowland, Eric Voelker Winner: Boran. Despite a team-high 20 errors, Boran is the captain and leader of this team and is flaunting it at the plate. Rowland, a pitcher, and Voelker, an infielder, are the only other seniors who see significant time, and they cannot touch Boran's numbers.

The Bret Boone Award: Best Junior Performance

Nominees: David Boehle, Mike Chernoff, Jon Miller, Ryan Quillian, Mark Siano Winner: Boehle. His stats may not show it, but Boehle has brought stability to a pitching rotation that needed his presence. And though Princeton head coach Scott Bradley downplays the severity of the injury, Boehle has played the entire year with ligament damage in his knee.

The Doug Mientkiewicz Award: Best Sophomore Performance

Nominees: Eric Fitzgerald, Tim Lahey, Thomas Pauly, Ryan Reich Winner: Pauly. Fitzgerald, Lahey and Reich start almost every game at their positions, but Pauly's Schoenweiss Award-quality pitching has been the difference between win and loss for this team more than once.

The Ichiro Award: Best Freshman Performance

Nominees: Adam Balkan, Ryan Eldridge, Ross Ohlendorf, Jason Vaughan Winner: Eldridge. In perhaps the most loaded class of candidates, Eldridge wins for his bat (.277 BA), his glove (.981 fielding percentage), and his consistency (28 starts in 29 games).

The Luis Gonzalez Award: Best Clutch Performance

Nominees: Mike Chernoff, Jason Vaughan, Steve Young Winner: Tie. Each received one vote from the baseball writing trio — Chernoff for his 13th-inning game-winning hit against Yale last weekend, Vaughan for his one-hit shutout in a 1-0 win against Dartmouth April 7, and Young for his game-tying pinch-hit triple in the bottom of the seventh against Penn March 29.

The Sammy Sosa Award: Player That Makes You Want to Come to the Ballpark

Nominees: Pat Boran, Thomas Pauly, Steve Young Winner: Young. Boran and Pauly own the plate and the mound, respectively, but Young's pump-up song as he steps to the plate is Marvin Gaye's 'Let's Get it On.' We rest our case.