John Anderson Named Big Ten Coach Of The Year

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Gopher baseball team starts play in the Big Ten postseason tournament Wednesday in Omaha, Neb., as the No. 1 seed, facing Iowa in the start of the double elimination tournament.

Minnesota won the conference regular season title after beating Ohio State Friday night.

On Tuesday, coach John Anderson was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in a unanimous vote. This is Anderson's 35th year as the Gophers head coach and in all those years, he's only had two losing seasons.

Anderson signed a five-year contract extension, which would take him through the 2021 season. His goal is to finish that contract, but he is taking it year by year.

Starting pitcher Matt Fiedler was also named the Big Ten Player of the Year. He was in the top five in the Big Ten in batting average (.383), hits (82), total bases (116) and victories on the mound with seven.

He's the eighth player in program history to be named the league player of the year and first since Luke Appert in 2003.