Osprey Set Several Team Records In 2011

While the end of this year's Missoula Osprey baseball season ended on a sour note, the year that the team had won't soon be forgotten.

Voice of the Osprey Ben Catley notes that the O's could have potentially set 14 new club records this year. With their late season swoon, however, only 9 were broken:

Total Strikeouts: The 2011 Osprey became the first Pioneer League pitching staff in the 76-game season format to collect 700 or more strikeouts, and while they were joined by two other pitching staffs, did set a new record with their total of 738.

Strikeouts Per 9 Innings Pitched: Another record set by the 2005 Osprey pitching staff that featured Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year Greg Smith, which was surpassed by the 2011 Osprey, who struck out teams at an average of 9.82 batters per nine innings pitched.

Fielding Percentage: Led by four position leaders in the field (third baseman Ryan Court, outfielder Justin Bianco, catcher Roidany Aguila and pitcher Dexter Price), the Osprey set a new team mark with a .971 fielding percentage. Orem won the league’s defensive crown with a .972 mark.

Home runs: Paced by Jon Griffin’s season-tying mark of 18 home runs, and buoyed by an Osprey first, with four players hitting 10 or more home runs in the same season, the Osprey became the first Pioneer League club to crack the 90-home run mark for a season. However, they were also not the last. Billings ended up leading the league with a league-record 97 roundtrippers, while the Osprey and Ogden finished tied for second with 94 homers.

Most Wild Pitches: Also a record held by the 2005 Osprey staff, the 2011 staff accounted for 102 of them, a new team mark.

Most total bases: The 2011 Osprey blew past the old mark set by the 2001 squad of 1183 during the last week of the season, and set the new bar at 1,232 total bases.

Best Slugging Percentage: Going hand-in-hand with the total base record, the new slugging percentage mark will be set at .462, going beyond the old standard set by the 2001 Osprey at .438.

Most Triples: Another new record set by the 2011 Osprey offense, which had 35 triples on the season.

Most Times Struck Out: The 2011 Osprey struck out as many times (738) as their pitchers managed to strike out the opposition. It was a mark in which the Osprey led the Pioneer League.

All stats and records courtesy of Ben Catley and the Missoula Osprey.