Holtmeyer Earns NCAA Division II Strikeout Award
Holtmeyer averaged 15.67 Ks per nine innings in 2009
8/5/2010 11:57:22 AM
OMAHA, Neb. - University of Nebraska at Omaha pitcher Joe Holtmeyer was named the 2010 NCAA Division II statistical champion for Strikeouts Per Nine Innings after his stellar sophomore season for the Mavericks in 2009. The right-hander finished the year with 15.67 strikeouts per nine innings, which was also tops in the entire nation.
He becomes the first UNO pitcher to lead Division II in strikeouts per nine innings since Joe Benes did it in 1980, also as a sophomore. Benes recorded 73 strikeouts and averaged 15.8 strikeouts per nine innings.
Holtmeyer led Division II in total strikeouts with 152, 21 more than Hayden Simpson of Southern Arkansas who finished second in the category. Holtmeyer's mark of 152 was also fourth best in all of NCAA baseball, trailing Trevor Bauer of UCLA (165 Ks), Asher Wojciechowski of Citadel (155 Ks) and Gerrit Cole of UCLA (153 Ks).
The Omaha, Neb. native broke UNO's school record for strike outs in a single season when he tallied his 113th strikeout on April 24 when he no-hit the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats. The previous school record was held for nearly 50 years by UNO All-American Barry Miller who recorded 112 of them in 1961.
Holtmeyer jumped to second overall in career strikeouts at UNO with 229 of them in two seasons under his belt with the Mavericks. Tim Huber is UNO's all-time leader with 277 strikeouts during his four-year stint from 2005-08.
Holtmeyer, who will begin his junior year with the Mavericks in 2011, has been pitching for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League this summer. The team completed their regular season last night with a 16-14 win over the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox to finish with a 22-21-1 record. The two teams will meet in a best of three series in the opening round of the playoffs, which begin Friday, August 6. According to the Mariners' website, Holtmeyer is slated to pitch the second game on Saturday, August 7 at 7 p.m.