Thursday, June 2, 2011

MORAVIAN’S BRENDAN CLOSE NAMED MID-ATLANTIC REGION PITCHER OF THE YEAR BY THE NCBWA

IRVING, TX --- Junior pitcher Brendan Close (Bethlehem, PA/Freedom HS) of the Moravian College baseball team was named the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association announced Thursday.

Close, pictured at left, is the first Moravian player to earn the NCBWA award, and last week he was the first player in school history to be named an American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings First Team All-American. 

Brian Gasser from national champion Marietta College was named the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Year and the Mideast Region Pitcher of the Year while West Region Pitcher of the Year Brian Rauh from runner-up Chapman University was second in the national voting.  Close was third in the national voting, earning three of the eight first place votes, and he was followed by Shenandoah University’s Greg Van Sickler from the South Region.  The remaining Regional Pitchers of the Year are Midwest Region – Luke Westphal from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Central Region – Jason Pankau from Illinois Wesleyan University New England Region – Corey Batista of Bridgewater State (Mass.) University and New York Region – Justin D’Amato from St. John Fisher College.

Close, who earned on a spot on the D3baseball.com All-America First Team last week, was also named the 2011 Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year and to the All-Conference First Team.  Close garnered a spot on the Rawlings/ABCA Division III All-Mid-Atlantic Region First Team.

Close had a 10-0 record, a 1.00 ERA, four shutouts, 100 strikeouts and just five walks allowed in 80.2 innings, setting school record for wins, shutouts, strikeouts and innings pitched.  Close, who was on the 2009 Landmark All-Conference First Team and the Second Team last season,  has also set the school records with 22 career wins (22-3 overall), seven shutouts and 232 career strikeouts, and he is second in innings pitched at 202.1 in three seasons while walking just 27 batters.

Moravian posted a school record 31 wins this season, going 31-9 overall, the first 30-win season in school history.  The Greyhounds were also 17-1 in the Landmark Conference regular season and earned the top seed and hosted the 2011 Landmark Conference Championship Tournament for the second straight year.