BURLINGTON, VT. — Vermont's Kyle Brault (Player of the Year) and Bill Currier (Coach of the Year), Binghamton's Zach Groh (Pitcher of the Year) and Maine's Kevin McAvoy (Rookie of the Year) took home the major hardware at the annual America East baseball awards banquet on Wednesday night. All voting was conducted by the conference's head coaches.
Complete All-Conference Team Breakdown (PDF)
Brault becomes the third Catamount in program history (Bobby Tewksbary, 2003; Jeff Barry, 2002) to take home the league's top individual honor. The senior outfielder leads America East in home runs (11), ranks second in slugging percentage (.665), third in runs batted in (51), fifth in hitting (.365), tied for seventh in on-base percentage (.432) and tied for eighth in hits (62). He was instrumental in leading the Catamounts to their second America East regular-season crown and the top-seed for the upcoming America East Championship.
Vermont's Currier led the Catamounts to an in-season revival that resulted in the league's regular-season title and the right to host the conference's four-team, double-elimination tournament. The 2002 and 2003 Coach of the Year, Currier's Catamounts posted just a 2-24 mark in non-conference action before turning things around to go 16-8 in America East play. In his 19th season with his alma mater, Currier notched his 400th career victory earlier this season with an 8-0 blanking of league foe Hartford.
Groh had a dominant season on the hill for Binghamton as he becomes the first Bearcat in program history to earn Pitcher of the Year distinction. The sophomore right-hander leads America East in earned run average (1.85) by nearly a whole run and ranks first in opposing batting average (.181) and strikeouts per game (10.09) and sits second in total strikeouts (71). Groh currently boasts the 14th-best ERA in the nation after flirting with the top-five for nearly the entire season.
In a hotly-contested race for Rookie of the Year, Maine's McAvoy became the fifth Black Bear in school history to garner the award. The freshman third baseman ranks second in the league in RBI (55), fourth in batting (.366), tied for fifth in slugging percentage (.560), sixth in on-base percentage (.435), tied for seventh in home runs (7) and seventh in hits (64).
Joining Brault (OF), Groh (SP) and McAvoy (3B) on the all-conference first team are Albany's Tom Hill (C) and Nate Olson (DH), Binghamton's Brendon Hitchcock (1B) and Justin Smucker (SS), Maine's Joe Hough (OF), UMBC's Joe Fowler (OF), Stony Brook's Gary Novakowski (RP) and Chris Sipp (2B) and Vermont's Joe Serafin (SP).
The all-conference second team consists of Albany's Mark Suchowiecki (SP), Sean Gregory (RP), Sean Donovan (SS), Steve Wyland (3B) and Brad Daniels (OF), Binghamton's Matt Simek (2B), Maine's Joel Barrett (1B), Ryan Quintal (OF) and Matt McGraw (DH), Stony Brook's Tom Koehler (SP) and Jon Pasieka (C) and Vermont's Jason Carey (OF).
McAvoy highlights the conference's all-rookie squad (regardless of position) and is joined by Albany's Gregory and Donovan, Binghamton's Kyle Klee, Hartford's Weston Szymanski and Brady Stouffer, UMBC's Ed Bach and Vermont's Jeff Nolet and Keith Rakus.
Several of the all-conference award winners will be in action this week at the America East Baseball Championship on May 25-27 at Historic Centennial Field in Burlington, Vt. The first round gets underway on Thursday, May 25 as No. 2 Stony Brook faces No. 3 Maine at 3 p.m. Host and top-seeded Vermont then takes on No. 4 Albany at 7 p.m.
America East Baseball Championship tickets can be purchased by calling the UVM Ticket Office at 1-866-4-CAT-TIX or online at www.uvmathletics.com. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for students. A package is also available on the web for $15 for all three days. The box office at Centennial Field will open one hour prior to the first game each day.
Be sure to follow all of the tournament action on the web via Championship LIVE! at www.AmericaEast.com.