Plucinski And Schmitt Named To Midwest All-Region Baseball Teams
June 2, 2004
 Junior pitcher Steve Plucinski and sophomore outfielder Tyler Schmitt were both recently named to Midwest All-Region teams. Plucinski made the Second Team for the second consecutive year while Schmitt earned Third Team honors. This is the third straight year Plucinski was named All-Region after making the First Team as a freshman when he also was a Third Team All-American.

Plucinski finished 4-5 as the Muskies number one pitcher and was much better than his record indicated. He often threw against the top teams on Lakeland's schedule and received practically no run support. Plucinski finished with a 2.69 ERA in 67 innings while striking out a whopping 100 and allowing just 24 walks. He gave up just 56 hits while throwing five complete games in nine starts.

"Steve is the best pitcher in the region as far as I'm concerned," said head coach John Weber. "He was nearly unhittable the second half of the season and had double digit strikeouts in every game he started but three…and one of those was the season opener when we limited him to five innings."

Plucinski had a season-high 16 strikeouts in a complete game effort verses Marian College in the season-ending Lake Michigan Conference Tournament. He also struck out 14 verses UW-Stevens Point (in just six innings) and Concordia (7 innings), had 13 punchouts against MSOE when he threw a no-hitter, 11 against Marian during the regular season and 10 against Edgewood College.

Last season Plucinski struck out 22 against Edgewood to tie the NCAA single game record for Division III. He also had the seventh highest total for Division III when he struck out 19 against Marian in the conference tournament.

Schmitt enjoyed a breakout season after seeing limited time as a freshman behind three All-Conference outfielders, including All-Region performer Tadd Russell.

Schmitt ended the year with a .425 average, the second highest in school history. He finished with 65 hits (3rd highest in Lakeland history) in 153 at bats while leading the team with 31 RBI's.

Schmitt tied for the team lead in doubles (12-tied with Mike Bachar), and led the team in stolen bases (16), on-base percentage (.461) and total bases (84). He was second in runs scored (32) and triples (2) while playing in 41 games. The young outfielder also struck out just seven times while walking 10 times.

"Tyler had a fantastic year and his hard work in the off-season and during the season really paid off," said Weber. "He is a pleasure to coach as he really has a passion for the game and plays the game the way it should be…aggressively."

Schmitt's aggressive play was demonstrated when the Muskies clinched their fourth straight outright conference title by defeating Marian College in the regular season finale. Schmitt's straight steal of home in the ninth inning gave Lakeland the insurance run they needed to seal the victory.

Schmitt was also impressive in centerfield with a .980 fielding percentage while committing just two errors and picking up five assists.

"Tyler also showed one of the strongest arms in the region and very few people challenged him," added Weber.

The two players are just the 10th and 11th Muskies to be named to an All-Region team since Lakeland moved to the NCAA in the early 1990's. All but one has occurred in the past six years during Weber's tenure.

"It's really a great honor for these excellent student-athletes," said Weber. "I'm especially pleased that both Steve and Tyler, as with players in the past, are as good of people off the field as they are on it."