FINAL 2010 CAA BASEBALL REPORT
MULTIPLE HONORS FOR MASON’S SOARES: George Mason senior shortstop Ryan Soares, the 2010 CAA Player of the Year, received multiple post-season regional and national honors. Soares was selected as the ECAC Player of the Year and the state of Virginia Player of the Year and was one of three finalists for the Wallace Award as the nation’s top shortstop. He was named to the Louisville Slugger All-America first team and earned third-team All-America accolades from PING! Baseball. Soares batted .438 with a CAA-record 29 doubles, 13 homers and 71 RBI this season.
JMU’S MUNSON NAMED THIRD-TEAM ALL-AMERICAN: James Madison junior closer Kevin Munson earned third-team All-America honors from Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball and PING! Baseball. Munson, who was the 2010 CAA Pitcher of the Year, went 8-1 with 10 saves and a league-best 1.64 ERA this season. He struck out 70 and gave up only 33 hits in 55 innings.
FOUR CAA PLAYERS MAKE FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICA SQUADS: Four CAA baseball players received Freshman All-America accolades. UNC Wilmington designated hitter Hunter Ridge and George Mason pitcher/outfielder Anthony Montefusco were chosen to the Louisville Slugger and PING! Baseball Freshman All-America squads. Ridge hit .348 with 49 RBI and set a school freshman record with 77 hits. Montefusco, the CAA Rookie of the Year, was 3-1 with four saves and a 1.17 ERA on the mound and also batted .317 with 13 RBI. Delaware second baseman D.J. Long, who hit .350 and scored 34 runs, also made the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team, while JMU outfielder Matt Tenaglia, who batted .361 with 39 RBI, earned a spot on the PING! Freshman All-America squad.
CAA DOMINATES ALL-REGION TEAM: The CAA had 11 players chosen to the ABCA Rawlings All-East Region team. Chosen to the first team were UNCW senior first baseman Robbie Monday (.317, 20 HR, 66 RBI), George Mason senior shortstop Ryan Soares, UNCW freshman designated hitter Hunter Ridge, William & Mary sophomore pitcher Matt Davenport (8-2, 1.96 ERA) and JMU junior closer Kevin Munson. Making the second team were ODU junior pitcher Kyle Hald (8-4, 2.79 ERA), UNCW junior catcher Cody Stanley (.323, 11 HR, 40 RBI), Hofstra senior second baseman Matt Prokopowicz (.431, 6 HR, 41 RBI), VCU junior third baseman Joe Van Meter (.434, 10 HR, 76 RBI), Delaware junior outfielder Pat Dameron (.353, 14 HR, 59 RBI) and Delaware junior designated hitter Steve Ulaky (.374, 7 HR, 37 RBI).
VCU DROPS PAIR OF GAMES AT NCAA REGIONALS: CAA champion VCU dropped its first two games at the NCAA Regionals in Charlottesville, Va. The Rams fell 15-4 to 5th-ranked Virginia in their opening contest and then were beaten 8-6 by Big East champion St. John’s. VCU was making its 10th appearance in the NCAA Regionals and eighth under head coach Paul Keyes.
RAMS CAPTURE CAA TITLE IN A THRILLER: Third-seeded VCU defeated #4 UNC Wilmington 7-5 to capture its fifth CAA baseball championship in the past nine years. Junior third baseman Joe Van Meter’s two-run homer in the 12th was the difference as the Rams rallied from an early four-run deficit. Four VCU relievers (Brennan Huelse, Jonathan Watson, Kyle Pelchy and Robbie Andrews) combined to shut out the Seahawks over the final eight frames, including escaping from bases-loaded jams in the ninth and 10th innings. Earlier in the day, UNCW blanked the Rams 10-0 behind a complete-game, 4-hit shutout from junior pitcher Daniel Cropper.
VCU’S VAN METER SETS CAA HITS RECORD: VCU junior third baseman Joe Van Meter broke the CAA record for hits in a season with 108. The previous mark of 102 was set by UNC Wilmington’s Tim Preston in 2005. Van Meter ranked second in the CAA with a .434 batting average and led the league with 76 RBI. He was 8-for-17 (.471) in the CAA Tournament with four runs scored and six RBI to earn Most Outstanding Player honors.
MASON’S SOARES, JMU’S MUNSON HEADLINE ALL-CAA TEAM: George Mason senior shortstop Ryan Soares was named the CAA Baseball Player of the Year and James Madison junior closer Kevin Munson was chosen as the CAA Pitcher of the Year in voting by the league’s head coaches. Soares batted a league-best .438 with a conference-record 29 doubles. He was also among the league’s top 10 in runs (57), home runs (13) and RBI (71). Munson went 8-1 with a league-high 10 saves this season and also topped the conference with a 1.64 ERA. He struck out 70 batters in 55 innings and opponents batted just .174 against him. Also receiving top honors from the conference were UNC Wilmington senior shortstop Michael Rooney as Defensive Player of the Year, George Mason pitcher/outfielder Anthony Montefusco as Rookie of the Year and VCU’s Paul Keyes and James Madison’s Spanky McFarland as Co-Coaches of the Year.
CLOSE GAMES IN CAA PLAY: Conference play in the CAA featured plenty of close games. Of the 132 CAA contests played this season, 41 of them (31.1%) were decided by one run or less and 15 games went to extra innings. All 11 squads had at least one conference game go into extra innings. The close games continued in the CAA Tournament as six of the seven contests were decided by three runs or less.
CAA HAS 16 PLAYERS CHOSEN IN MLB DRAFT: The CAA had 16 players chosen in the 2010 Major League Baseball draft, including five from UNC Wilmington. It was the eighth year in a row that the conference has had at least 10 players drafted. A list of this year’s draft picks is included below.
Kevin Munson, P, James Madison - 4th round (121) - Arizona Diamondbacks
Cody Stanley, C, UNC Wilmington - 4th round (139) - St. Louis Cardinals
David Buchanan, P, Georgia State - 7th round (231) - Philadelphia Phillies
Stephen Harrold, P, UNC Wilmington - 12th round (378) - San Francisco Giants
Ryan Cuneo, 1B, Delaware - 20th round (610) - Chicago Cubs
Joe Van Meter, 3B/P, VCU - 21st round (646) - Texas Rangers
Seth Frankoff, P, UNC Wilmington - 27th round (815) - Oakland Athletics
Cameron Roth, P, UNC Wilmington - 29th round (868) - Baltimore Orioles
Michael Rooney, SS, UNC Wilmington - 30th round (898) - Baltimore Orioles
Carlos Alonso, 3B, Delaware - 32nd round (981) - Philadelphia Phillies
Ethan Paquette, 1B/OF, Hofstra - 35th round (1062) - Seattle Mariners
Ryan Soares, SS, George Mason - 36th round (1093) - Detroit Tigers
Mike Fabiaschi, 2B, James Madison - 38th round (1145) - Oakland Athletics
Joe Velleggia, C, Old Dominion - 40th round (1198) - Baltimore Orioles
Drew Permison, P, Towson - 42nd round (1266) - Toronto Blue Jays
Matt Browning, OF, James Madison - 43rd round (1302) - Seattle Mariners
DELAWARE (27-24, 9-15 in CAA) - The Blue Hens ended the season on a four-game winning streak and posted their 18th winning campaign in the last 21 years. Senior Carlos Alonso batted .389 for the year and his 88 hits were the eighth-highest season total in school history.
GEORGE MASON (28-22, 11-13 in CAA) - Senior Ryan Soares set a Mason season-record with his league-best .438 batting average. He also set the CAA season record for doubles (29) and the Mason career doubles mark (60). Third baseman Mark Hill’s .527 on-base percentage was the 2nd-best ever at Mason.
GEORGIA STATE (34-23-1, 17-6-1 in CAA) - Sophomore Brandon Williams set a GSU season record with 72 RBI. GSU led the nation with 10.5 runs per game this season and its 34 victories were the second-most in school history. Senior Bradley Logan broke 10 Panthers’ career records, including hits (287) and runs scored (221), and is in the top 10 in CAA history in seven categories.
HOFSTRA (20-28-1, 10-14 in CAA) - Senior Matt Prokopowicz finished his career as Hofstra’s all-time hits leader with 271 and batted .431 to become just the fourth player in school history to hit over .400 in two seasons. Senior Ethan Paquette became the first Hofstra player to reach the 70 RBI mark in a season.
JAMES MADISON (30-23, 18-6 in CAA) - The Dukes won all eight of their league series this season and finished first in the CAA standings for the sixth time. Junior Kevin Munson set JMU records for saves in a season (10) and a career (23). Senior Matt Browning set JMU’s career doubles mark with 67 and ranks fifth in career hits (267).
UNC WILMINGTON (33-27, 13-11 in CAA) - Senior Robbie Monday tied a UNCW season record with 20 homers in 2010. Shortstop Michael Rooney, the CAA Defensive Player of the Year, set a UNCW season mark with 206 assists defensively. Hunter Ridge’s 77 hits were the most ever by a UNCW freshman.
NORTHEASTERN (13-31, 5-19 in CAA) - The Huskies lost 30 games for just the second time in school history. Sophomore pitcher Drew Leenhouts struck out 88 batters in 71.1 innings. Tony DiCesare ranked 13th nationally in triples per game (.16) this season and finished his career with 14 three-baggers.
OLD DOMINION (24-30, 11-13 in CAA) - First baseman Chris Baker closed the year on a school single-season record 28-game hitting streak. Baker drove in a team-best 51 runs this season. Senior Jake McAloose finished tied for 7th on ODU’s career hits list (254) and ranked fifth in career doubles (50).
TOWSON (19-36, 11-13 in CAA) - Senior Kevin Collins finished his career ranked second in steals (55) and runs (168) and ninth in hits (227). Towson went 18-22 after starting the year 1-14. Towson’s pitching staff had a school-record 369 strikeouts. Nate Curd’s 77 pitching appearances set a TU career mark.
VCU (34-26-1, 16-7-1 in CAA) - Third baseman Joe Van Meter was named to the Charlottesville All-Regional team after going 4-for-9 with four RBI. Van Meter, who broke the CAA record for hits (108) in a season, drove in a league-high 76 runs. Pitcher Seth Cutler-Voltz threw a conference-best five complete games and topped the CAA with 119.1 innings pitched.
WILLIAM & MARY (27-24, 10-14 in CAA) - Sophomore Matt Davenport (8-2) became the first Tribe pitcher since 2002 to earn first-team All-CAA honors. Davenport’s 1.96 ERA was a school record. Stephen Arcure’s team-best .339 batting average was over 100 points higher than a year ago as a freshman.