Junior collects second All-America honor of spring

Rawlings/ABCA All-America Teams

RINDGE, N.H. (May 26, 2009) – Junior right-hander Kyle Vazquez (Berlin, Conn./Berlin) of the Franklin Pierce University baseball team have been selected to the Rawlings/American Baseball Coaches Association All-America Third Team. It marks the second All-America accolade of the spring for Vazquez, who was named to the Daktronics All-America Second Team last week.

Vazquez served as the Franklin Pierce ace all season long, to the tune of an 8-1 record and a 1.93 earned-run average, which was good for third in the conference. Currently, he ranks fifth in the nation in strikeouts (112) and 12th in strikeouts per nine innings (10.8). In addition to earned-run average, Vazquez is also among Northeast-10 leaders in four significant pitching categories, as he finished first in innings pitched (93.1) and strike outs, placed third in wins and ranked fifth in opposing batting average (.217). Vazquez threw three shutouts on the season, including a 10-inning, three-hit shutout with a career-high 15 strikeouts against Massachusetts Lowell on May 2 to clinch the Northeast-10 regular season title.

Vazquez was named Northeast-10 Conference Pitcher of the Year earlier this month. In addition to a pair of All-America selections, he has also garnered Daktronics All-East Region First Team, ABCA All-East Region First Team and All-Northeast-10 Conference First Team accolades this spring.

The Ravens (37-18) captured their third Northeast-10 Conference regular season title in four years earlier this spring and followed that with their third consecutive Northeast-10 Championship title, which was the program’s fourth in five years. Franklin Pierce earned the second seed in the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship East Regional and hosted an NCAA regional for the fifth consecutive season.