Bruins' Cholowsky Wins Pair of Prestigious Big Ten Awards

Offensively, he was dominant. He finished the regular season fourth in batting average (.371), first in on-base percentage (.511), first in OPS (1.274), fifth in the conference in hits (75), sixth in doubles (17), third in home runs (20), fourth in RBIs (63) and seventh in walks (42).

Just video game numbers from the second-year Bruin, doubling down after a sensational freshman season. He competed alongside Oregon Ducks outfielder Mason Neville for the Player of the Year award but ultimately won it for the consistent play and strong season he helped the Bruins to.

When looking at the Defensive Player of the Year, nobody competed with the polished Cholowsky in terms of the number of plays he made and the few mistakes that he committed.

He finished the regular season with a fielding percentage of 97%, committing just six errors in 54 games with 103 put-outs and 150 assists. He was a lockdown defender at the toughest position on the infield, carrying over his strong defensive prowess from his freshman season.

The conference defensive award marks the first time a UCLA player has ever won the DPOY award, etching Cholowsky into Bruin history in just his second season. Cholowsky proved he was a special talent all season long, and he was very deserving of earning this prestigious honor.

He was a part of a deadly middle infield that contributed heavily to most double plays in the nation with 54. The Chandler, Arizona native helped turn 41 of those double plays, mostly with sophomore second baseman Phoenix Call.

The numbers do not lie, but they also do not give the full picture as to how good Cholowsky was this season. He took away numerous hits from some of the nation's top hitters and was a big reason why the Bruins had a scoring margin of +175.

Cholowsky wins the DPOY award in the same week that he takes home a conference Player of the Week honor for what he was able to do last weekend against Northwestern, helping UCLA to the Big Ten title. He went a combined 6-for-10 with five RBIs, two doubles and a pair of home runs.

Add this to the list of awards that Cholowsky is competing for this year as he is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and Golden Spikes Award, two national awards going to the top college baseball player in the country.

He is making quite the case to add even more awards to his trophy case after being the best player in the Big Ten this season.

You can watch Cholowsky continue his dominant success this week in the Big Ten Tournament as the Bruins earned the No. 2 seed and will debut in their new conference tournament on Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET, 9 a.m. PT. They will face the No. 11-seeded Illinois Fighting Illini on Fox Sports.

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