Baseball Release (2006) - Bittner Named to All-State Team - Guilford College

 

      Greensboro, NC (6/2/06) -- Guilford's Rob Bittner (Wilmington, DE/Salesianum) earned College Division All-State baseball recognition from the North Carolina Collegiate Sports Information Association (NCCSIA) Friday. The squad consists of NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and NAIA student-athletes from North Carolina colleges and universities. North Carolina sports information directors submitted nominees and NCCSIA members selected the team for the third straight year.

Bittner, a senior captain and 2005 all-state pick, also received Second Team American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-South Region and First Team All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) kudos this spring. He hit .372 with a school record-tying 13 homers in his fourth and final Guilford campaign. The first baseman set school marks for runs batted in (54) and putouts (362) in a season. Bittner led the league in home runs and stood fourth among the ODAC's best with his team-high .718 slugging percentage. His 54 RBIs ranked second in the league and his 13 doubles placed seventh.

Bittner won the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division III Hitter of the Week Award for games of April 10-16 after hitting .500 with five homers and 17 RBIs in five contests. He tied the school standard with three homers versus Eastern Mennonite April 15 and had four dingers among his seven hits and 11 RBIs in the twinbill with the Royals. He concluded his Guilford tenure with the school's career slugging percentage record (.649) and ranked second on the Quakers' all-time batting average (.377) and RBI (150) lists. His 32 homers stand third in Guilford history.

Bittner helped rookie head coach Nick Black's '02 Quakers to a 24-18 overall record, 10-8 in the ODAC. Guilford won over 20 games for the sixth straight season and set the school standard with a .337 team batting average. The Quakers' campaign ended in the six-team ODAC Baseball Tournament for the fourth time in five years with a fourth-place showing.