Well into his first season in professional baseball, former Illinois State pitcher Todd Stein is still receiving awards for his performance as a Redbird, as the Jewish Sports Review recently named the left-hander to the 2004 College Baseball Mens All-America Team.
Stein went 4-6 in 2004 for Illinois State compiling a 3.98 ERA, the lowest of all starting pitchers. The Ladue, Mo., native struck out 68 batters in 74 2/3 innings and also earned one save for ISU. He won eight games in his career at Illinois State and is in ninth place in ISU history with 26 games started.
The AFNI Honor Roll member pitched four games in 2004 in which he went longer than six innings and gave up less than three hits. He also twirled a one-hitter May 2 against Southern Illinois and recorded a career-high 12 strikeouts in a complete game five-hit shut-out effort over Northern Iowa on April 2.
The Arizona Diamondbacks chose Stein in the 25th round of the professional baseball draft in June. He is currently playing for the Missoula Osprey of the Pioneer League. He has appeared in 10 games this season, going 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA, the third best on the team.
