2009: First Team All-OVC… Second Team ABCA All-Mideast Region... Tokarz started all 49 games he played in at second base… led the team in home runs, runs scored and sacrifice flies… saw action in every game but the Illinois College contest, which ended his streak of consecutive games started at 94… batted second in the lineup in every game but the nightcap of the UT Martin doubleheader, which he led off… went deep twice in the first inning of the Blackburn College win, tying an NCAA record held by many… was part of a team-high 26 double plays turned… batted .417 in OVC play to rank eighth in the league… recorded 14 of his 26 extra-base hits during conference weekends, including seven of his 13 homers to rank fourth in the OVC… walked 12 times vs. only three strikeouts in league play… registered 18 of his 52 RBIs with two outs… with a runner on third and less than two outs, recorded an RBI 14 of his 18 opportunities… hit 11 of his 13 homers in EIU wins… hit safely in each of the first six games of the season to extend his overlapping hitting streak from 2008 to 12 games… also hit safely in the final 10 games of the year… had at least one hit in all six OVC Tournament games he played in at EIU… recorded an RBI in a team-high 10 consecutive games from March 18 to April 1… ranked second on the team in multi-hit and multi-RBI games… batted .389 with 25 RBIs and a team-high 27 runs scored at home… batted .361 with six homers and 20 RBIs in the month of April… went 13-for-34 with seven RBIs and eight runs scored in the month of May… homered twice and went 13-for-35 on the spring break trip… did not commit an error in 46 defensive chances to record an out in midweek action… went 15-for-36 with five homers and 13 runs scored during the 10-game homestand… homered in each of the first two games of the season and in back-to-back games three times… went deep four times in a span of seven at bats in home wins against Blackburn and Jacksonville State… also eight consecutive hits over the course of those two games… finished only a single shy of the cycle in the loss at Louisville… hit safely in all three games of the South Florida Tournament, finishing the weekend 5-for-13 with three runs scored… had at least one hit, RBI and runs scored in all three games of the Morehead State series, finishing the set 5-for-14 with four extra-base hits and six runs scored… walked three times and scored four runs in game one of the Tennessee Tech doubleheader… homered in the nightcap of twinbill sweep of Tech to account for one of EIU’s two runs… posted his first career five-hit game, homering twice, in the series-opening win against Jax State… hit a three-run homer in the eighth to break a 6-6 tie in the home win against Saint Louis… in the nightcap of the doubleheader sweep at Southeast Missouri, scored the go-ahead run in sixth inning after delivering a key two-triple in his previous at-bat… doubled in all three games of the Eastern Kentucky series… reached base safely four times and scored three runs in the series-opening win against EKU… delivered a three-run homer and two-run double to post a career-high five RBIs in the regular-season finale… Top 100 National Rankings: 28th in sacrifice flies… Top 10 OVC Rankings: fifth in home runs, eighth in runs scored and 10th in total bases.
2008: OVC Tournament MVP... Tokarz started all 57 games at second base, the only Panther to start every game… batted in the top three in the lineup all season, hitting first, second and third 19 times each… collected multiple hits and scored a run in all six postseason games, batting .464 (13-for-28) with seven extra-base hits, seven RBIs and nine runs scored… tied the EIU single-season at-bats record… ranked second on the team in hits, multi-hit games, runs scored, RBIs, multi-RBI games and sacrifice bunts… one of four Panthers that walked more than he struck out… solid situational statistics: .319 with runners on, .307 with runners in scoring position and .313 with two outs… reached safely on an error a team-high 12 times… hit safely in nine straight games in early March, including all eight games of the spring break trip, and the final six games of the year… also scored a run in each of the final 10 games of the season… led the team with a .444 (28-for-63) average, 12 extra-base hits and 23 runs scored in neutral-site action… batted a team-high .342 (25-for-73) in March thanks to a 15-for-33 (.455) showing on the spring break trip… did not strikeout in 39 plate appearances on the spring break trip… batted .327 (16-for-49) with a team-high nine RBIs and only one strikeout in post-spring break midweek action… finished the OVC Tournament 9-for-19 with six extra-base hits, seven RBIs and six runs scored to win MVP honors… stayed hot at the NCAA Regional, going 4-for-9 with three runs scored… was a part of four of the EIU record five double plays turned in the series finale against UT Martin… ignited his great spring break trip with a home run in the trip opener against Western Michigian… posted five multi-hit efforts during the eight-game trip, highlighted by three-hit showings in the wins against IPFW and Northern Iowa… posted a four-hit effort in the extra-inning win at Illinois State… recorded consecutive three-hit games in the final two contests of the season-long homestand in early April, collecting five consecutive hits at one juncture… walked three times and scored twice in the blowout win of Illinois in Mattoon… homered, knocked in four runs and scored four times in the regular-season win against Jacksonville State… homered and tripled in his first two at-bats against nationally-ranked Missouri… reached base safely four times, registering three run-scoring hits, in the game-two win of the Southeast Missouri series… doubled twice in the OVC Tournament win against Samford, delivering a game-winning, bases-clearing two-bagger in the ninth inning after SU intentionally walked Brett Nommensen to face him… hit a big two-run homer in the first inning of the OVC Tournament win against Jacksonville State… doubled in each of his first three at-bats of the OVC Tournament championship game… doubled in front of Zach Skidmore’s game-tying, two-run homer against Nebraska at the NCAA Regional… Top 10 OVC Rankings: 10th in doubles… Top 100 National Rankings: 84th in toughest to strikeout… EIU Single-Season Rankings: first in at-bats.
JUNIOR COLLEGE: He was a two-time NJCAA All-American at Elgin Community College (in suburban Chicago), highlighted by First Team honors in 2007… helped lead ECC to NJCAA World Series both years, finishing fifth in 2006 and seventh in 2007.
HIGH SCHOOL: He was a two-year letter-winner for coach Robin Renner… enjoyed a big senior season, setting school records in batting average (.489), hits (66), runs scored (52) and stolen bases (28) as a team captain and MVP… earned First Team All-State honors from the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association... led NVHS to a regional championship… also played for the Elmhurst Hawks summer team.
PERSONAL: No. 1 sports highlight was his game-winning, three-run double vs Samford in the ninth inning of the 2008 OVC Tournament… his brother has been a major influence on his sports career because "he taught me many things about baseball, and everything he did while he was playing has made me the player I am today"… most admires Chase Utley because "he is a great ballplayer and plays the game with a lot of heart"… his brother Ryan played baseball at Kent State and was a member of the 2006 Mid-American Conference Tournament championship team... son of Tom and Lori Tokarz… MAJOR: Kinesiology & Sports Studies.
