June 11, 2006
B-W Baseball Team Announces Award Winners
The 2006 Baldwin-Wallace College baseball team award winners were announced by head coach Bob Fisher last week.
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Outstanding Freshman: Speedy outfielder Cody Kidd started 12 games and played in 24, batting .319, stealing 10 bases in 12 attempts, and making several jaw-dropping catches in center field.
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Gold Glove Award: Senior second baseman Kevin Brown won his second straight outstanding fielder award by handling over 150 fielding chances with only three errors and pitching in on 21 double plays.
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Big Stick Award: Senior right fielder Dan Melito led the Yellow Jackets in just about every offensive category. He posted a .405 batting average with 53 hits, 43 runs and 46 RBIs in 38 games. He also pounded out nine home runs on top of 17 doubles and smashed the B-W record for doubles in a career.
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Outstanding Pitcher: Junior right-hander Clayton Kynkor was the team’s most consistent starter, posting a 6–4 record with a 4.34 earned run average. He tied a school record with 11 starts and tossed five complete games. His 10–4 career record is tied for the best record by a B-W pitcher in this decade.
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Yellow Jacket Award: Co-captains Kevin Brown and Dan Melito were recognized by the coaching staff for their leadership in the dugout, on the field and in the classroom. They displayed a “practice ethic, style of play and leadership that if emulated by anyone, would make for a better player and teammate,” according to Coach Fisher.
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Guy Fisher Award for Academic Excellence: Sophomore second baseman Nate Luken earned straight As for the spring semester and a 3.88 grade point average for the year, giving him a 3.90 cumulative GPA going into his junior year.
This year’s team award winners will be recognized between innings of the Jackets’ annual alumni baseball game at Heritage Field on Homecoming morning, Saturday, October 7.
June 10, 2006
B-W Co-Captains Named to Academic All-District Baseball Team
Baldwin-Wallace College co-captains Kevin Brown and Dan Melito have been named to the 2006 ESPN The Magazine Academic All–District IV baseball team.
The Academic All-District team is selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America. A nominated scholar-athlete “must have a 3.2 or better grade point average, be of sophomore or better standing and be a key starter or reserve who has played in a minimum of 70 percent of his team’s games.”
Brown, a second team Academic All-District player last year, was named to the first team this year. He started every game at second base for the Yellow Jackets and committed just three errors in 157 fielding chances. The Jackets’ leadoff hitter set season and career records for being hit by a pitch and tied a single-game record with three doubles against Case Western Reserve University on April 13. He graduated from B-W’s MBA program with honors in May and plans on attending law school to pursue a career as a sports agent.
Melito made this year’s second team. The slugging right fielder led the Jackets in just about every offensive category and smashed the school record for doubles in a career. He graduated in May with a degree in pre-physical therapy and fitness management and starts his graduate training in physical therapy at Walsh University this fall.
Earlier this season, Brown and Melito were unanimous picks for the Academic All–Ohio Athletic Conference first team. They were part of a school-record contigent of seven B-W ballplayers named to the Academic All-OAC team.
The Jackets had the highest grade point average of any team at B-W for the fall semester and finished the spring term with 70 percent of the roster at or above a three-point GPA.
[ B-W Baseball Academic All--District IV Selections ]
June 8, 2006
B-W Dominates Academic All-OAC Baseball Team
Baldwin-Wallace College dominated the 2006 Academic All–Ohio Athletic Conference baseball team, earning nearly half of the honor squad’s 15 roster spots.
The Academic All-OAC team recognizes the league’s top scholar-athletes. Its roster is made up of outstanding starters and key reserves who have at least a 3.25 cumulative grade point average. Roster spots are awarded by a committee of faculty representatives from each of the ten OAC schools.
This year, the faculty reps honored four B-W ballplayers with first team selections: Kevin Brown, a senior who posted a 3.83 grade point average in B-W’s MBA program; Matt Green, a senior business administration major with a 3.53 GPA; Dan Melito, a senior physical therapy and fitness management major with a 3.51 GPA; and Matt Wilson, a senior business and marketing major with a 3.70 GPA.
Brown, Melito and Wilson were unanimous picks.
Mike Farrell, a senior business and marketing major with a 3.31 GPA; Brian Pille, a junior broadcasting and sport management major with a 3.67 GPA; and Nick Quarando, a junior HPE major with a 3.81 GPA, were selected for honorable mention.
The Yellow Jackets had more Academic All-OAC picks this year than any other team in school history. The 1987 and 2002 teams had a half dozen Academic All-OAC players apiece, and the 1996 club had five. Only one other team has had four first-teamers: Ryan Petrusky, Pat Shannon, Jim Leffler and Brian Keller were named to the top squad in 2003.
