Matthew Johnson was voted the North Coast Athletic Conference Player of the Year, as the senior second baseman highlighted The College of Wooster's 11 honorees on the 2010 All-NCAC Team, announced the league office on Tuesday. Another individual award went to the Fighting Scots, with bench boss Tim Pettorini being selected the NCAC Coach of the Year for an eighth time.
Joining Johnson with first-team all-conference status were five teammates – senior outfielder Stu Beath, junior pitcher Tyler Fugate, senior first baseman Matt Groezinger, junior pitcher Justin McDowell, and junior shortstop Greg Van Horn.
Sophomore third baseman Zack Vesco, junior pitcher Matt Barnes, and senior pitcher Matt DeGrand were named to the All-NCAC Second Team, while senior catcher Shane Swearingen and senior outfielder Chris Wood received honorable mention.
Johnson, whose only previous all-league award was an honorable mention nod as a sophomore, is the 10th in program history to land the NCAC Player-of-the-Year award. Wooster's leadoff man, Johnson paces the conference in hits (76) and runs scored (67), while ranking second in triples (7), home runs (11), and slugging percentage (.835), third in batting average (.463), third in on-base percentage (.534), tied for third in doubles (14), sixth in RBI (39), and tied for seventh in stolen bases (14). Most impressive, he has multiple hits in 26 of the Scots' 41 games, including 10 of the last 11, a stretch that also contained a school record-tying 10 consecutive hits. Overall, Johnson is batting .596 (28-for-47) since April 18.
Beath, the starter in left and team's primary No. 3 hole hitter, moved up from second-team all-NCAC as a junior. He has endured an up-and-down spring, but still ranks fourth in the league in RBI (48) and tied for seventh in homers (5), to go with a .322 average and 11 doubles. Beath has an unusual number of sacrifice flies with seven already this season, and he's driven in multiple runs in 16 games, which ties for the team lead in that category.
Fugate has been one of the league's most effective hurlers. In fact, the right-hander who has six starts and 10 appearances out of the bullpen holds an NCAC-low 2.43 ERA. He's gone 6-1 with five saves, ranking second in the conference in both of those categories, while his 64 strikeouts are tied for second and 59.1 innings pitched rate sixth-best. Over Fugate's last seven appearances (28.2 innings), his numbers include a 3-0 record, three saves, a 0.94 ERA, and 38 strikeouts.
Groezinger, now a three-time first-team all-NCAC selection, is leading the league in RBI for the second-straight year with 57 and reached a double-digit home run total for the third time with 10, while batting just a shade under .400 (.394) out of the clean-up spot. Wooster's switch-hitting first baseman ranks 10th in the conference in average, second in runs (56), tied for seventh in hits (56), tied for fourth in triples (4), third in homers, fourth in slugging percentage (.739), tied for second in walks (24), and ninth in on-base percentage (.489). Groezinger's most recent outing may have been the best of his career, as he homered three times and drove in eight runs during the NCAC championship game.
McDowell, who repeats as a first-team all-league pick, is atop the NCAC in pitching victories for the second season in a row via his 8-2 record. The right-hander and ace of the staff possesses a 2.88 ERA, rating fourth in the conference, and he's struck out 64 while logging 65.2 innings, which puts him among the top-three in those categories. McDowell, who has started 10 times, has limited the opposition to a .244 batting average thus far.
Van Horn, a transfer from Princeton University, has made an equal impact to that of Johnson. The Scots' starting shortstop and No. 5 hitter owns a .479 average with 34 extra-base hits – 19 doubles, eight triples, and seven home runs. The eight three-baggers are a school record and he's the NCAC leader in doubles, triples, and slugging percentage (.879), while also ranking second in average, hits (67), RBI (54), and on-base percentage (.552), third in runs scored (52), tied for third in steals (15), and tied for fourth in homers. Van Horn, on a 13-game hitting streak and with 21 multi-hit games, was the MVP of the NCAC Tournament.
Vesco, tagged with his second all-conference award (honorable mention last spring), has started nearly every game at third base (34) and is getting hot at the plate of late. His average has improved more than 100 points since April 10, escalating from .266 to its current .373, which rates fourth on the squad. A solid run producer, Vesco sits ninth in the NCAC in RBI with 33, and he's also tallied 22 runs, five doubles, and one triple.
Barnes, who garnered first-team all-league accolades in 2007, bounced back from an injury-shortened 2009 season to serve as the staff's No. 2 starter. He holds a 6-2 record and 3.55 ERA with 61 strikeouts over 58.1 innings, which puts him among the top-10 in the NCAC in each of those categories as the righty is tied for second in wins, and ranks fourth in strikeouts and seventh in both ERA and innings pitched. Opposing batters have hit .264 against him, and Barnes is coming off a standout performance during the NCAC tourney when he held Denison University to just two runs over 7.0-plus innings.
DeGrand, who winds up with five all-NCAC certificates for his career (two in baseball, three in football), continued to be Wooster's No. 3 starter in the rotation. He has posted a 5-1 record and a 4.12 ERA, while setting down 43 on strikes during 48.0 innings on the mound. DeGrand's ERA and strikeout totals are both eighth in the conference.
Swearingen, a three-year starter at catcher, notches the first postseason honor of his career as a result of his stellar defensive work and steady work with the bat. He's hitting .252, highlighted by a 5-for-11 effort during the recently completed NCAC Tournament, and has totaled 25 runs, seven doubles, one homer, and 19 RBI. Defensively, Swearingen has made just one error as part of a .996 fielding percentage and only 17 opponents have attempted to steal on him, five of which were thrown out.
Wood, another newcomer to the All-NCAC Team, earned the Scots' starting position in center and stayed there for 36 of their 41 games. The speedy Wood has played flawless defense (1.000 fielding pct. over 55 chances), while also being a pleasant surprise at the plate with a .328 average – sixth-highest on the squad. Always a threat to run, he has 12 stolen bases, ranking 10th in the league in that category while also tallying 19 runs scored, four doubles, and 23 RBI.
Wooster, with a 34-7 overall record, is currently preparing for regional play as it earned the conference's automatic berth to the NCAA Div. III Baseball Championships by winning the NCAC championship. The NCAA will announce the regional brackets and seedings late Sunday, with play set to begin on Wednesday, May 19.