2004 (Senior): Billy is a candidate for national player of the year honors and has been named first team, preseason all-America by Collegiate Baseball
Newspaper and the
National Collegiate
Baseball Writers
Association.
2003: Becher had the best offensive year in New Mexico State baseball history last year as a junior, leading the country in home runs, runs batted in and finishing second in slugging percentage and 12th in batting average.
Becher was one of three finalists for the Rotary Smith Award, given annually to the top NCAA Division I player in the country. He was also a finalist for the Dick Howser Award. He was a first team all-America pick by Collegiate Baseball/Louisville Slugger, USA Today Sports Weekly and the National
Collegiate Baseball Writers
Association.
Becher was also a first team all-Sun Belt Conference pick, league MVP and league Newcomer of the Year. He was the first player in Sun Belt Conference history to win the triple crown, taking home the title in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. He also led the league in slugging percentage, hits, and total bases. He finished third in on-base percentage (.482), runs scored (76), and triples (4). Becher set NMSU single season school records for home runs (32), RBI (118), total bases (225), extra base hits (52), slugging percentage (.900) and hits (105) in one season.
Becher also tied the school record for most grand slams in a season with four and games played (61). His .420 batting average was the fifth highest in school history.
He set Sun Belt Conference records for home runs, RBI and total bases in a single season. He hit .400 with two doubles, a home run and eight RBI in three NCAA Tournament games. He was named to the Tempe NCAA Regional All-Tournament team. Becher batted .406 with seven home runs and 29 RBI in 16 conference games.
He had 33 multiple hit and 28 multiple RBI games including a pair of each in the NCAA Tournament. He had hits in 51 of the Aggies? 61 games and RBI in 45 of the team?s 61 games. He went 4-for-6 with a home run, a double and two runs scored in the Aggies? 14-12 extra inning win over nationally ranked UNLV in the NCAA Tournament. He went 2-for-5 with four RBI against UNLV in the third game of the regional.
Billy had a career high nine RBI against LaSalle (3/16) and a career high six hits and three home runs in that same game. He hit multiple home runs in a game eight times. He had a 16-game hitting streak from March 22 to April 22.
Billy was dominant at home, batting .537 with 25 home runs and 84 RBI in 34 games.
Becher was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week three times. He went 8-for-14 (.571) with two doubles, three home runs and 15 RBI in a four-game series sweep of Rhode Island (2/14-15) to earn the first award.
Becher won his second award at the end of March after batting .583 (7-for-12) with one home run, six RBI, three runs scored, a slugging percentage of 1.250 and an on-base percentage of .667 in a three-game series against Arkansas-Little Rock. He did not make an error in 26 chances and threw out a runner at home plate in the sixth inning of the Aggies' 5-4 victory. Becher hit a solo home run in the seventh and had a RBI double in the eighth in the Aggies' 9-8 come-from-behind win Sunday. He finished Sunday's game 4-for-5 with three doubles and a home run.
He won his third award in the middle of April after batting .750 (9-12) while hitting three home runs and driving in seven against Arkansas State. Arkansas State temporarily moved into first place in the Sun Belt Saturday afternoon, but Becher responded by getting six hits in seven at bats (.857), belting three home runs and driving in five in the last two games of the series, both Aggie victories. Becher also extended his hitting streak to 15 games overall and 14 games in Sun Belt Conference play.
Becher hit a pair of dramatic home runs in the Aggies? 10-7 come-from-behind victory over the UNM Lobos (4/8/03). The Aggies trailed 7-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh when Becher delivered his game winning grand slam.
He broke the Aggie single season home run record with a blast to right center field in Albuquerque in the NMSU?s 16-14 win over the Lobos. His batting average never fell below .333 all year and after the third game of the year, it never fell below .407.
2001-02(Freshman-Sophomore): Becher was a two-year star at Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Chandler, Arizona. As a sophomore he hit .427 with 21 home runs and drove in 79 runs. He also had 22 doubles, two triples, scored 68 runs and stole 18 bases in 21 attempts. He was a first team all-Arizona Community College Athletic Conference pick and was a first team all NJCAA Region 1 selection.
High School: Becher was a first team all-conference, all-region and all-city pick at McClintock High School in Tempe, Arizona.
Personal: Billy was born in Mesa, Arizona and is the son of Bill and Judy Becher. He is majoring in Criminal Justice.
