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Gerik Wallsten
Position: Catcher
Class: Sophomore
Hometown: Ingleside, IL
High School: Grant
2010: Wallsten played in 49 games and started 47 times behind the plate… started the final 36 games of the season, including all 23 OVC games… led the OVC with 12 sacrifice bunts, ranking among the Top 30 nationally… was a team-best 4-for-8 with the bases loaded… batted .302 with runners in scoring position… with a runner on third and less than two outs, drove in that run on seven of nine opportunities… recorded nine of his 24 RBIs with two outs in an inning… was 8-for-19 during the seven-game homestand, hitting a pair of home runs in the homestand finale and helping EIU win its series with Morehead State… hit a solo homer in back-to-back at-bats against Morehead to post his first collegiate multi-homer game and the only such effort by a Panther at home in 2010… batted .327 with five sacrifice bunts in April… batted .333 with five sacrifice bunts in midweek action… recorded 18 of his 24 RBIs in true road games… delivered a three-run double and finished with a career-high four RBIs in the finale of the Belmont series… hit a two-run homer in game one of the doubleheader sweep at South Florida… posted four three-hit games, two coming in OVC play… singled home the game-tying run as part of a three-hit effort in the Illinois game in Mattoon… went 5-for-13 with five RBIs in the Jacksonville State series, driving in three runs in the opener and two more in the finale… reached base safely three times and also executed a sacrifice bunt in the OVC Tournament win against Southeast Missouri… National Rankings: 28th in sacrifice bunts per game and 37th in sacrifice bunts… OVC Top 10 Rankings: first in sacrifice bunts.
2009: Wallsten played in 28 games and started 24 times behind the plate… had started 22 times in a 26-game stretch when he suffered a wrist injury in early April that sidelined him for a month… Eastern was 21-3 in the games he started… ranked second on the team with 11 sacrifice bunts, recording five in a four-game stretch on the spring break trip… hit three of his four homers and walked more than he struck out in conference play… batted .300 (9-for-30) with runners in scoring position and registered 11 of his 19 RBIs with two outs… with a runner on third and less than two outs, he recorded an RBI in five of his six opportunities… was 7-for-19 with 10 RBIs at home, three of the seven hits being homers… batted .300 with three homers and 12 RBIs in the month of March… batted .333 with four homers and 13 RBIs during the 13-game win streak… hit safely in five straight games beginning one game after he made his EIU debut… registered three RBIs in wins against Milwaukee, Morehead State and Murray State… also homered and scored three times in the series-opening win at Morehead… homered in each of the first two home games of the season… delivered a game-tying single and a two-run homer in game one of the Murray State doubleheader… walked three times and scored twice in the regular-season finale at Eastern Kentucky, his first start since April 10… also started the OVC Tournament loss against Murray State… Top 100 National Rankings: 42nd in sacrifice bunts.
HIGH SCHOOL: Wallsten was a three-year varsity letter-winner for coach Mike Mizwicki… also lettered in basketball… two-time All-North Suburban Conference, Daily Herald All-Area and All-Lake County honoree… 2008 team MVP… ranks third in school history with 13 career home runs… two-time academic all-conference… National Honor Society… T.E.A.M Leadership and RYLA Youth Leadership Conference attendee… also played for the Kenosha Indians summer team.
PERSONAL: No. 1 sports highlight was hitting a home run in his first and final high school at-bats… his parents have been a major influence on his sports career because "they both drive me to keep doing what I want to do, and have supported me through every choice and decision I have ever made"… most admires his former athletic trainer Jim Cooney because "without him the last three years I would not know half the stuff I do about baseball prior to coming to EIU"… son of Gary and Cindy Wallsten… MAJOR: Biological Sciences.
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