Bren Spillane named 2018 Big Ten Player of the Year

It was no secret the storyline following the Illinois Baseball team all season long was the historic season from first baseman Bren Spillane.

Spillane has racked up a series of accolades throughout the year, and he added one more to his name on Tuesday, May 22, when he was named the 2018 Big Ten Player of the Year.

This makes Spillane the 10th Illini player in the history of the program to be named the Big Ten Player of the Year and it didn’t seem like anyone else was more deserving after the stats he recorded in the 46 games he played in this season.

Spillane led the Big Ten in seven batting statistic with a batting average of .407, 22 homeruns, 57 RBIs, a .944 slugging percentage, an on-base percentage of .512, an OPS of 1.456 and 153 total bases.

Other awards and accolades Spillane has racked up this season include the D1baseball.com Midseason Player of the Year, the 2018 Big Ten triple crown (includes batting average, homeruns and RBIs), first player in Illinois history to win national player of the week honors twice and Spillane became the first player ever to win Big Ten Player of the week three straight weeks. Spillane is also a semifinalist for the 2018 Golden Spikes Award.

Spillane will look to continue on with his impressive season, Wednesday, April 23, when the Illini face the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten Tournament.