Ingui, Vazquez also honored by ECAC

ECAC Division II Baseball All-Star

RINDGE, N.H. (May 27, 2009) – Freshman catcher Mike Dowd (East Bridgewater, Mass./Cardinal Spellman) of the Franklin Pierce University baseball team has been named Eastern College Athletic Conference Division II Rookie of the Year, as announced Wednesday by the ECAC. In addition, sophomore designated hitter Derek Ingui (Sterling, Mass./Wachusett Regional) and junior right-hander Kyle Vazquez (Berlin, Conn./Berlin) join Dowd on the ECAC Division II Baseball All-Star First Team.

Dowd, a true freshman, led the Ravens in hitting by 24 points this season, with a .380 batting average (78-for-205) which was also good for fourth in the Northeast-10 Conference. He led the Northeast-10 in on-base percentage (.450) and also ranked in the top 10 in the conference in seven other categories. Dowd finished the season tied for second in the Northeast-10 in hits, ranked fourth total bases (116), tied for fourth in doubles (15), tied for fifth in runs scored (47), ranked seventh in slugging percentage (.566) and tied for seventh in runs batted in (43) and home runs (7).

It is the third Rookie of the Year honor this spring for Dowd, who has already been named American Baseball Coaches Association East Region Rookie of the Year and Northeast-10 Conference Co-Freshman of the Year. In addition, he has collected Daktronics All-America Honorable Mention, ABCA All-East Region First Team, Daktronics All-East Region First Team, All-Northeast-10 Conference First Team and Northeast-10 Conference All-Rookie Team accolades for his standout season.

Ingui finished second on the team with a .356 batting average (78-for-219) which put him seventh in the Northeast-10. He led the conference in triples (7) and total bases (134), while placing in the conference’s top 10 in six other categories. Ingui finished the season second in the Northeast-10 in runs scored (53), tied for second in hits, third in slugging percentage (.612) and runs batted in (47), tied for third in home runs (9) and tied for fourth in doubles (15). Earlier this spring, Ingui was selected ABCA All-East Region First Team, Daktronics All-East Region Second Team, All-Northeast-10 Conference First Team and CoSIDA/ESPN: The Magazine Academic All-District I Second Team.

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 and received All-America honors from both Daktronics (Second Team) and Rawlings/ABCA (Third Team). 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.