Indiana University Athletics
In the Dugout with Jay Brant
9/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sept. 15, 2005
Senior outfielder Jay Brant was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) and Rawlings All-Mideast Region second team last season. A second team All-Big Ten selection, Brant became the fifth Hoosier to earn All-Mideast honors along with Kennard Jones (2002), Vasili Spanos (2002, '03) and Seth Bynum (2004). The Indianapolis product led last year's club in batting average (.365), runs (71), hits (81), doubles (16), stolen bases (26) and on-base percentage (.441).
He also ranked in the top 10 in 11 Big Ten offensive categories, including leading the league in runs. Brant started each of the team's 56 ballgames and turned in a season-high 19-game hitting streak to go along with earning Big Ten Player of the Week honors on March 15.
Brant visited with IUHOOSIERS.com and talked about where he played over the summer and how it feels to be back in Bloomington.
I played for the LaCrosse (Wis.) Loggers of the Northwoods League. Every night we played in front of nearly 4,000 fans and played a major league-type schedule, where we played every night and traveled from town to town every two or three days. The quality of pitching that I saw was extremely talented, which is exactly what you need in order to become a better hitter. It was a great experience getting to play baseball in that kind of setting.
It's great to be back in Bloomington and back with the team. Right now, we are all still trying to get to know one and other and to get to know the new coaching staff. Coach Smith has been stressing the need to pay attention to detail and do all the little things right, so we've been taking the first couple small steps in the right direction. We have scrimmaged the first couple of practices simply to show the coaches what tools each player possesses.
