INDIANAPOLIS – Former Bradley outfielder Mike Tauchman (Palatine, Ill./William Fremd H.S.) officially claimed the 2013 national batting title when UCLA completed its sweep of Mississippi State in the College World Series championship series Tuesday night.

A consensus All-American this season, Tauchman hit .425 (79-186) in Bradley's 49 games to become the fourth Bradley Baseball player and 11th student-athlete in all sports to lead the nation in a statistical category. His .425 average is the best-ever by a Bradley player with at least 100 at-bats in a season and was the best by a Missouri Valley Conference player since Wichita State's Pat Magness in .464 in 1998.

In addition to his batting average, Tauchman led The Valley with a .513 on-base percentage (fourth nationally), 0.57 stolen bases per game (16th) and 1.06 runs scored per game (23rd). He was one of six finalists for the inaugural Gregg Olson Award as college baseball's “Breakout Player of the Year” and he was a semifinalist for USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award as national player of the year.

Selected by the Colorado Rockies in the 10th round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, Tauchman is batting .225 through his first 11 professional games with the Tri-City Dust Devils in the Class A short-season Northwest League.

Bradley Athletics National Stat Leaders