’72 baseball team to be inducted into Athletics Hall of Fame
October 15, 2008
The 1972 NIU baseball team will be inducted into the NIU Athletics Hall of Fame Friday.
The ‘72 Huskies finished with a record-tying 24 wins that season, en route to capturing the Midwestern Conference title as well as upsetting defending NCAA Regional Champion and 1971 College World Series runner-up Southern Illinois.
NIU, which finished the season 24-8, took two of three in the MC series in Carbondale that the Huskies rode to an at-large bid to the NCAA Regional.
The Huskies were decorated with Six First-Team All-MC Players. Senior outfielder Lindle Dailey finished ‘72 with a .372 regular-season average, while pitcher Lee Hansen finished 8-1 with 1.96 ERA.
Third baseman Tom Wittum ranked 13th in NCAA slugging percentage with a .377 average, seven homers, and 33 RBIs.
NIU ranked third in the nation in team batting with a .318 average and led the nation’s top 20 hitting teams with a .693 slugging percentage. The Huskies also ranked in the top 20 with a .961 fielding percentage.
However, NIU’s magical season came to an end at Bowling Green where the Huskies dropped a 2-0 game to host BGSU and an 8-1 decision to the University of Iowa in the NCAA Regional.
