University of Vermont, after winning its first America East regular season championship, won three of the four major awards handed out at the conference's annual awards banquet Wednesday night. Sophomore shortstop Bobby Tewksbary took home the Len Harlow award, given to the conference's Player of the Year. Senior pitcher Jamie Merchant was named Pitcher of the Year, while head coach Bill Currier was selected as Coach of the Year for the second-straight year. Pitcher Greg Norton of University of Maine was selected as Rookie of the Year. All voting was conducted by the conference's head coaches.
Tewksbary is the second-consecutive Catamount to win the Len Harlow Award, following Jeff Barry, who was the first Vermont player to take home the honor. He is among the America East leaders in several offensive categories and, in conference games, topped the list in batting average (.408), slugging percentage (.732), runs (25), and total bases (52).
Merchant became the first Catamount to win the Pitcher of the Year award after leading the conference and ranking among the top-10 in NCAA Division I with a 1.59 ERA. He has posted a 7-1 record with one save, and leads a Vermont pitching staff that has been dominant this season, posting a 3.17 team ERA. The 6-4, 270 pound right-hander's 77 strikeouts are third in America East, including three games with 10 or more. Merchant is holding opposing hitters to a conference best .204 batting average.
Currier, in his 16th season as the Catamounts' skipper, led Vermont to its first America East regular season championship and the top seed in the conference championship. His squad's conference record of 17-5, and overall record of 32-12, are both school records for wins in a season. Currier is the Vermont record holder for wins, with a career slate of 349-303 (.535).
Norton is the fourth Black Bear in the last five years to be selected as the Rookie of the Year, following in the footsteps of pitcher Mike Collar (2001), third baseman Joe Drapeau (2000), and outfielder Mike Ross (1999). He leads all rookies with seven wins, and leads Maine in ERA (2.97). His best effort of the season was a complete-game shutout of Binghamton University , in which he allowed only four hits, all singles, while striking out a career-high eight batters.
Merchant was joined on the first team by Collar and senior catcher Ed Kull of Stony Brook University. The first team infield consisted of Vermont junior Barry Chamberland at first base, Maine senior Brett Ouellette at second base, Drapeau at third base, and Tewksbary at shortstop. The first team outfielders were Barry, junior TJ Kowalchuk of Binghamton and junior Simon Williams of Maine. Senior Alain Picard of Maine was the designated hitter.
Collar leads America East in strikeouts with 93, and has posted a 7-3 record with a 3.48 ERA. Kull leads the Seawolves with a .345 average and has knocked in 22 runs. In conference games, he threw out 10 batters attempting to steal, which tied for the America East lead.
Chamberland is batting .359, with 11 home runs and 41 RBI. Ouellette leads America East in hits (62) and total bases (105), while hitting at a .352 clip. Drapeau hit six home runs in conference play, which tied him for the lead, while batting .301 with 33 RBI in all games.
Barry led America East in stolen bases for the third-straight year, swiping 29 in 33 chances. He became the Vermont all-time leader in stolen bases earlier this season and has stolen 95 in his career. Kowalchuk batted .298 for the Bearcats, with eight round trippers and 41 RBI. In conference games, Williams ranked first in America East in on base percentage (.506) and was second in average (.383).
The second team pitchers were Vermont senior Jeff Dixon, and University at Albany junior Steve Emmerthal. Maine sophomore Aaron Izaryk was the second team catcher.
The second team infield consisted of Stony Brook senior Mike Russo at first base, Northeastern University senior Omar Pena at second base, Northeastern sophomore Tim Bush at third base, and Stony Brook sophomore Matt Devins at shortstop. The second team outfield included rookie Chris Emanuele of Northeastern, junior Joe Costello of Binghamton, and senior Mike Livulpi of Maine. Albany junior Dan Schoonmaker is the second team designated hitter.
Norton and Emanuele are joined on the all-rookie team by pitcher Kyle Thomas of Albany, outfielder Ryan Quintal of Maine, shortstop Arman Sidhu of Northeastern, pitcher Matt Restivo and pitcher/designated hitter David Wood of Stony Brook, and designated hitter Kyle Brault and third baseman Jay Iannoni of Vermont.
Ten of the first-team selections and eight of the second-team choices are in action this week at the America East Baseball Championship at Centennial Field in Burlington, Vt. The four-team, double-elimination tournament begins Thursday May 22, when No. 2 Maine plays No. 3 Stony Brook at 3:30 p.m. and No. 1 Vermont meets No. 4 Northeastern at 7 p.m. The championship continues with three games Friday and the title game(s) Saturday.