Hoosiers Now

Pyne, Mathison, Tibbitts Set Indiana Record as Three Freshman All-Americans

Freshman sluggers Josh Pyne, Carter Mathison and Brock Tibbitts earned freshman All-American accolades from College Baseball Newspaper, setting an Indiana baseball program record. Indiana joined Oregon State, Tennessee and UCLA as one of four programs with three or more athletes to make the list.

Jack Ankony

IU Athletics

The awards keep coming in for Indiana's freshman trio.

On Wednesday, a program-record three Hoosiers were named to the freshman All-American team by College Baseball Newspaper. Josh Pyne, Carter Mathison and Brock Tibbitts earned this honor after standout freshman seasons at Indiana under head coach Jeff Mercer. Iowa's Keaton Anthony and Brody Brecht were the only other Big Ten freshmen on the list. 

Indiana also joined Oregon State, Tennessee and UCLA as one of four programs with three or more athletes on the freshman All-American team. UCLA was eliminated from the College World Series after an 11-4 loss in the regional championship versus No. 14 Auburn, but No. 1 Tennessee and No. 3 Oregon State both hosted and won their regional to advance as two of 16 teams remaining. 

Indiana last had two freshman All-American selections in back-to-back seasons in 2011 and 2012. Dustin DeMuth and Joey DeNato earned this award in 2011, with Kyle Schwarber and Sam Travis named to the team in 2012.

Pyne, Mathison and Tibbitts were each named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team and became the first freshman trio in Indiana baseball history to each record 40-plus RBI. Pyne and Mathison were also the only freshman duo in the country with 50-plus RBI in 2022. 

Pyne became a mainstay in the three-hole, finishing his freshman season with a .327 batting average and leading Indiana with 74 hits. Pyne's 20 doubles slot him 6th in the Big Ten, and he reached safely in 49 of 53 games.

A highlight of Pyne's season came against Illinois on April 29 when he delivered Indiana's first walk-off win of the season. He roped the ball down the third baseline on a 3-1 count to drive in the game-winning run that also gave Indiana the series win over Illinois.

Pyne delivered in the clutch just a few weeks later with a two-out, two-run single to give Indiana a two run lead over Minnesota on May 14. He was down 0-2 in the count, but after stepping out of the box to take a deep breath and refocus, Pyne worked the count to 2-2 and delivered the game-winning hit.

“That cat’s got a slow heart beat,” Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer said. “[Pyne] is as good as I’ve ever seen as a freshman at being able to let go of whatever has happened and just be on that pitch.”

Mathison set the Indiana freshman home run record this season with 19 long balls, which leads Big Ten freshmen and ranks third among freshmen nationally. Mathison also led all Hoosiers with 55 runs scored and a .608 slugging percentage. He's the only Hoosier hitter to reach the 1.000-OPS mark at 1.001.

Mathison finished 11th in the Big Ten with 58 RBI, and his 19 home runs ranked third in the conference behind Maryland sluggers Chris Alleyne, who won Big Ten Player of the Year with 24 home runs and Matt Shaw, who hit 22.

Mathison took home Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors after leading Indiana to a series victory at Michigan, who eventually won the Big Ten Tournament. Mathison went 5-for-12 at the plate across three games against Michigan, good for a .417 batting average. He scored six runs, drove in five, walked twice and belted two home runs against the Wolverines to earn conference-wide recognition.

The young slugger's most notable at-bat against Michigan was a three-run home run to right center field, which gave Indiana a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning. His 15th home run of the season set an Indiana freshman record, passing Alex Dickerson, who hit 14 in 2009. Dickerson has since enjoyed a six-year MLB career where he has hit 40 home runs across 339 games.

"[Mathison] is obviously a really physical kid, but he’s also a kid that can have an at-bat," Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer said of Mathison on April 30. "He gets deep in the counts, he’s going to get himself into a leverage count. He fouled two 2-1 fastballs straight back, and those are pitches he normally thumps. He doesn’t expand, he doesn’t chase, he gets in good counts and he’s very gifted and very talented. When you’re a talented player who hits the ball hard and you have a good eye and you get into a good count consistently, it gives you confidence to put him in the middle of the order." 

Tibbitts made the transition from catcher to first baseman as a freshman at Indiana, but it didn't slow down his bat. Tibbitts finished his freshman season ranked No. 5 on Indiana's freshman home runs charts with nine. He was also No. 12 on the Indiana freshman RBI list with 43, finishing third on the team with 38 walks and sixth among Hoosiers with a .382 on-base percentage.

As Indiana made a late-season surge to win four of its final five Big Ten Series, Tibbitts caught fire. In an eight-game stretch from May 7 to May 19, Tibbitts recorded 15 hits in eight games with nine RBI.  During Indiana's 10-8 win at Michigan on May 8, Tibbitts hit a game-tying solo home run sixth and gave the Hoosiers a one-run lead with an RBI double in the seventh.

Indiana's season came to a close with 14-2 loss to Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal in a game that ended at 2:37 a.m. CT. The Hoosiers' run included becoming the first No. 8 seed to defeat the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament with a 6-4 extra-inning win over Maryland. 

Indiana finished their season with a 27-32 overall record and a 10-14 mark in conference play. But with the stellar freshman trio returning, as well as Evan Goforth who made the Big Ten All-Freshman team, a brighter future could be in store for Indiana in 2023.

Stories related to Indiana baseball:

  • PYNE, MATHISON ONLY FRESHMAN DUO WITH 50-PLUS RBI: Indiana sluggers Josh Pyne and Carter Mathison were the only freshman duo in Division I baseball to drive in 50 or more runs during the 2022 season. Mathison also set the Indiana freshman home run record, and Pyne led the Hoosiers with 74 hits. CLICK HERE
  • BREHMER NAMED TO BIG TEN ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Indiana baseball's Bradley Brehmer was named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team after tossing a complete game in the Hoosiers' 8-1 win over the Illinois Fighting Illini. Brehmer becomes the first Indiana pitcher to earn all-tournament honors since Christian Morris in 2014. CLICK HERE
  • INDIANA'S RECORD-SETTING CINDERELLA RUN FALLS SHORT IN SEMIFINALS: Indiana became the first No. 8 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, but the Cinderella run ended around 3 a.m. Sunday morning with a 14-2 loss to Rutgers. The Hoosiers are the second team in Big Ten history to strike out over 600 batters in a season, and set the Big Ten Tournament single-game record at 18 strikeouts. CLICK HERE
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Jack Ankony
JACK ANKONY

Jack Ankony is a Sports Illustrated/FanNation writer for HoosiersNow.com. He graduated from Indiana University's Media School with a degree in journalism. Follow on Twitter @ankony_jack.

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