May 22, 2012
HARRISONBURG, Va. (May 22, 2012) - Old Dominion University senior shortstop Josh Wright (Bridgewater, VA.), and senior catcher Josh Tutwiler (Bridgewater, VA.) have been named third team All-CAA and freshman outfielder Josh Eldridge (Lorton, VA.) was selected to the CAA All-Rookie squad as chosen by the League's head baseball coaches.
Wright, the ODU team MVP finished the season with a .294 batting average with seven homers,26 RBI, 50 runs scored, 15 doubles and 19 stolen bases. He ranked fifth in the CAA in runs scored and seventh in stolen bases. Wright had a .500 slugging percentage and .405 on base percentage. He completed his career at ODU with 37 career homers which ties him for first all-time at ODU with school Hall of Fame infielder Tony Gsell ('99). Wright finished with 54 career stolen bases which ranks him seventh all-time at ODU.
Tutwiler hit .291 this season with a team best eight homers, 31 RBI and a team best .503 slugging percentage as well as 14 doubles. He ranks sixth in the CAA in home runs.
Josh Eldridge led the Monarchs in hitting at .299 with a team best four triples along with 12 doubles, and 26 RBI. He hit .316 in 30 CAA conference games, the best on the squad. Eldridge tied four fourth in the CAA in triples and was named CAA Player of the Week during the season.
Hofstra senior outfielder Danny Poma (Monterey, Calif.) was selected as the 2012 CAA baseball Player of the Year and William & Mary senior Matt Davenport (Chesapeake, Va.) was chosen as the 2012 CAA Pitcher of the Year as the conference announced its post-season award winners on Tuesday night.
Other top honors went to Hofstra junior second baseman Matt Ford (Lansing, N.Y.) as the CAA Defensive Player of the Year and Northeastern freshman second baseman Jason Vosler (West Nyack, N.Y.) as the CAA Rookie of the Year. UNCW's Mark Scalf was named the CAA Coach of the Year.
Poma produced one of the top offensive seasons in the nation in 2012. His .435 batting average and 97 hits rank second in Division I, while he leads the country with 76 runs scored and 31 doubles. He also tops the CAA in stolen bases (26), total bases (149), on-base percentage (.504) and slugging percentage (.668). The senior outfielder also hit seven homers and drove in 47 runs. Poma is one of 35 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, which is awarded to the nation's top player. He is the first Hofstra player to ever receive the Bill Brooks CAA Player of the Year award.
Davenport went 7-5 for the Tribe this season and led all CAA starting pitchers with a 1.73 ERA. The senior right-hander topped the conference with 109.1 innings pitched and recorded a league-high 90 strikeouts while walking only 16. He threw a CAA-best six complete games and recorded a pair of shutouts. Opponents batted just .210 against him this season. Davenport ranks 8th in the nation in complete games, 12th in WHIP and 16th in ERA.
Ford had an excellent year defensively for Hofstra, committing only nine errors in 258 chances at second base for an impressive .966 fielding percentage. His 155 assists were the fifth-most in the CAA and he was involved in 44 doubles plays, which was the highest total by a CAA middle infielder. Ford also had a solid season offensively batting .379 with 46 RBI's and 19 stolen bases.
Vosler batted .312 with a team-high 15 doubles and 33 runs scored for Northeastern. The freshman second baseman was second on the team in RBI's (43) and third in home runs (6). He also excelled in the field with just seven errors in 197 chances for a .966 fielding percentage.
Scalf guided UNCW to the CAA regular-season title with an impressive 24-6 mark, which was the second-highest win total in league history. The Seahawks were just 16-15 in early April but closed the regular season by winning 19 of their final 24 contests to improve to 35-20 overall. They were impressive in all phases of the game, ranking second in the conference in batting, pitching and fielding. The CAA Coach of the Year honor is the fifth in Scalf's career.
Hofstra placed a league-high five players on the All-CAA first team. Poma and Ford were joined by junior first baseman Jared Hammer (.383, 4 HR, 64 RBI's), junior shortstop Dalton Rouleau (.341, 30 RBI's, 25 SB) and senior designated hitter Kevin Flynn (.350, 28 RBI's). UNCW had three players make the first team with senior outfielders Andrew Cain (.316, 9 HR, 38 RBI's) and Thomas Pope (.374, 39 RBI's) and senior pitcher Tyler McSwain (8-3, 3.17 ERA).
George Mason had a pair of first-team selections in senior utility player Brig Tison (.368, 34 RBI's) and junior closer Chris O'Grady (2-0, 14 saves, 0.50 ERA). Rounding out the squad were W&M's Davenport, Northeastern junior catcher Jon Leroux (.347, 12 HR, 50 RBI's) and VCU sophomore third baseman Joey Cujas (.379, 45 RBI's).
The awards were presented on Tuesday evening in Harrisonburg, Va. on the eve of the 2012 Virginia 529 CAA Baseball Championship, which gets underway Wednesday afternoon at Veterans Memorial Park.
As selected by CAA Head Baseball Coaches2012 CAA PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Danny Poma, OF, Hofstra2012 CAA PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Matt Davenport, RHP, William & Mary2012 CAA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Matt Ford, 2B, Hofstra2012 CAA ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jason Vosler, 2B, Northeastern2012 CAA COACH OF THE YEAR: Mark Scalf, UNCW