America East Baseball Awards, 2004

[DaneFan2k3]

AmericaEast.com Story

2004 America East Baseball Awards Handed Out

 

University at Albany first baseman Dan Schoonmaker and head coach Jon Mueller were honored as America East Len Harlow Player of the Year and Coach of the Year respectively at the conference's annual awards banquet held Wednesday night. The league's premier ace Jordan Thomson of Northeastern University was tabbed Pitcher of the Year, while University of Vermont third baseman Miguel Magrass was named Rookie of the Year. All voting was conducted by the conference's head coaches.

 

All-Conference Teams.

 

Schoonmaker is the first Great Dane to win the Len Harlow Award as Albany is in just its third season in America East. The 6-2 first baseman finished the regular season as the league leader in total bases on the conference's most lethal offense. Schoonmaker also ranks second in America East in runs batted in (49), hits (71), hits per game (1.45) and triples (4). The first team all-conference first baseman also flashed some leather as he boasts a .994 fielding percentage, good for fifth in the league, with just two errors through 48 games played.

 

Mueller, in his fifth season at the helm of the Great Danes, led Albany to an impressive 36-12 regular season mark, shattering the previous school record for wins in a single campaign (21), which was set back in 1998. The only coach in Albany's Division I existence, Mueller also guided the Great Danes to their best conference mark (14-7) in the program's history.

 

Thomson has been dominant on the hill all season for the Huskies. The 6-2 right hander leads America East in wins (8) and earned run average (1.31). Versus conference opponents, Thomson has been nearly unhittable as he holds opponents to a .171 batting average with a microscopic 0.50 ERA. In a May 14 start at University of Hartford, he was a bunt-single away from throwing a no-hitter as he went nine full innings allowing just the one hit and striking out a season-high 13 batters.

 

Magrass is the first Catamount to be named America East Rookie of the Year. The third baseman leads the league in RBI (52), RBI per game (1.21), doubles (18) and doubles per game (0.42). He is also tops amongst freshmen in hits (58), hits per game (1.35), total bases (2.35) and slugging percentage (.598). A stellar rookie campaign featured the 6-3 slugger becoming UVM's single-season leader in RBI, doubles and tying the total bases mark with 101.

 

Thomson was joined on the first team by fellow pitcher Steve Emmerthal of Albany and catcher Aaron Izaryk of University of Maine. The first team infield consisted of three Great Danes, Schoonmaker (1B), Kirt Zimniewicz (2B) and Joe Lamb (SS), as well as Binghamton University's Jay Balback (3B). The first team outfielders were Brendan Chivaro of Albany, Joe Hough of Maine and Jeff Heriot of Northeastern. Junior Derek DeGrazio of Albany was the designated hitter.

 

Zimniewicz leads America East in batting (.391), on base percentage (.448) and runs scored per game (1.02), while teammate Lamb is tops in the league in runs scored (46) and Emmerthal has equaled Thomson's win total of eight. Balback slugs a conference-best .729 as he leads the league in home runs (14), and homers per game (0.33). Creek has tallied the most hits (75) and hits per game (1.47) among conference players.

 

The second team pitchers were Maine's Mike McDonald and Scott Roy of Hartford, while fellow Hawk Brian Eck was the catcher.

 

The second team infield consisted of Binghamton's Jamie Boyer (1B), Dean Geoffrey of Vermont (2B), Greg Creek of Maine (3B) and Matt Devins of Stony Brook University (SS). The second team outfield included T.J. Kowalchuk of Binghamton, Brad Czarnowski of Northeastern and Vermont's Kyle Brault. Rookie Brendon Hitch###### of Binghamton was tabbed as the designated hitter.

 

Magrass and Hitch###### are joined on the all-rookie team by Binghamton's Matt Simek (2B) and Pat Haughie ©, Maine's Matt McGraw (DH), Joel Barrett (1B) and Steve Richard (P), University of Maryland, Baltimore County's Jon Gossard © and Stony Brook's Chris Sipp (2B). The all-rookie squad is chosen regardless of position.

 

Ten of the first-team selections and four of the second-team choices are in action this week at the America East Baseball Championship at Mahaney Diamond in Orono, Maine. The four-team, double-elimination tournament begins Thursday May 27, when No. 1 Northeastern plays No. 4 Stony Brook at 3:30 p.m. and No. 2 Maine hosts No. 3 Albany at 7 p.m. The championship continues with three games Friday and the title game(s) Saturday.

Edited May 26, 2004 by DaneFan2k3