LOUISVILLE, Ky. (May 20, 2009)--Three Bellarmine University baseball players have earned All-Midwest Region honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association. Senior Michael Thompson was selected "Pitcher of the Year," and was named to the first team, while second baseman Patrick Brady and outfielder Braxton Graven were named to All-Region second team.
Thompson, who also earned Pitcher of the Year honors from the Great Lakes Valley Conference and the Daktronics All-Midwest Region Team, compiled an 8-2 record while registering 118 strikeouts and an earned run average of just 2.84. The Newburgh, Ind. native (Castle H.S.) leaves Bellarmine with a number of pitching records, including most strikeouts in a career, most innings pitched in a career and most strikeouts in a season.
Brady, a Daktronics third team All-American a year ago, continued his stellar play for the Knights. This year the junior from Lexington, Ky. (Henry Clay H.S.), hit .332 with seven home runs and 42 runs batted in. He led the team in stolen bases (15), hits (65), total bases (100), and he recorded a .951 fielding average, committing just 12 errors in 245 chances.
Graven was on the base paths the most often for the Knights, hitting a team-best .376 while also leading in walks and on-base percentage. The sophomore from Louisville (Trinity H.S.), was a GLVC Player of the Week and belted all four of his season's home runs in a single game--a crucial 11-10 come from behind victory over St. Joseph's. Graven also was in the starting rotation as a pitcher, where we was 3-3 with 3.49 ERA.
ABCA ALL MIDWEST REGION
FIRST TEAM
1B Evan McDole, JR Northern Kentucky
2B Kyle Gendron, JR Grand Valley
3B Jacob Petkac, JR Ashland
SS Sean Estand, SO St. Joseph's
INF Ben Sondgeroth, SR Indianapolis
C Chase Kittinger, JR Indianapolis
OF Jason Cisper, JR Northern Kentucky
OF Kevin Dusold, SR Northern Kentucky
OF Jeff Foltz, SR Ashland
OF Chad Werry, SR Southern Indiana
P Trevor Leach, SO Southern Indiana
P Ajay Meyer, JR Ashland
P Ben Minard, JR Ashland
P Michael Thompson. SR Bellarmine
RP Shaun Larson, SR Southern Indiana
DH Ben Minard, JR Ashland
Player of the Year: Evan McDole, JR, Northern Kentucky
Pitcher of the Year: Michael Thompson, SR, Bellarmine
Coach of the Year: Steve Lyon, Grand Valley
SECOND TEAM
1B Mike Hallam, SR Quincy
2B Pat Brady, JR Bellarmine
3B Alex Thieroff, SR Southern Indiana
SS Joe Rohlfing, JR Drury
INF Cory Maguire, JR Grand Valley
C Michael Wiseman, SO Wayne State
OF Ty Blake, JR Tiffin
OF Braxton Graven, SO Bellarmine
OF Cody Grice, FR Grand Valley
OF Ryan LaPensee, JR Wayne State
P Andre Benjamin, SR Grand Valley
P Ben Knuth, SR Grand Valley
P Corey Rupert, SO Indianapolis
P Corey White, JR Indianapolis
RP Matt Winterhalter, SR Northern Kentucky
DH Joe Messina, JR St. Joseph's
