2015 VASID UNIVERSITY DIVISION ALL-STATE BASEBALL FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JULY 10, 2015 VaSID UNIVERSITY DIVISION ALL-STATE BASEBALL TEAM National Champion Virginia earns three major VaSID awards O’Connor is Coach of the Year for ninth time with Cavaliers’ run to the title BLACKSBURG — Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor, who guided his Cavaliers to the 2015 national championship, highlighted the 2015 University Division All-State Baseball team chosen by the Virginia College Sports Information Directors (VaSID) and announced today. O’Connor picked up his ninth Coach of the Year honor, while two of his players also earned major awards – Josh Sborz was voted Pitcher of the Year and Pavin Smith nabbed Rookie of the Year. Richmond’s Michael Mormon grabbed the state’s Player of the Year. O’Connor adds this honor to the many he’s picked up over the past month, since Virginia defeated Vanderbilt two games to one to win the College World Series. Already, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball, and Perfect Game have named him their National Coach of the Year. Sborz was named to the All-College World Series Team and was also voted the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series. The Second Team All-ACC pitcher posted a 1.60 ERA and a 7-2 mark in 33 games, with three starts, and added 15 saves. He struck out 62 batters in 73.0 innings pitched. Smith, who was selected to three freshman All-America teams – Baseball America, D1Baseball and Louisville Slugger – was one of three players to start all 68 games for the Cavaliers this year. He finished third on the team in batting (.307) and led the team with 83 hits, seven of which were home runs. He added 44 RBIs and 38 runs scored to his totals. Morman picks up the Player of the Year award after batting .389 for the season in 53 games, while slugging .611 and adding a .440 on-base percentage. The Second Team Louisville Slugger All-American and Atlantic 10 Player of the Year had 88 hits, of which 25 were doubles and seven were home runs. He added 51 runs and 56 RBIs to his totals while also stealing 10 bases.. Just eight players on the 2015 all-state team had previously made a VaSID team with seven repeat selections from a year ago, meaning 23 players from state teams are first time honorees. Liberty’s Alex Close is the only player to make the squad for a third time. The Cavaliers led the way with six total players on the all-state team, and tied Radford for the most first-team selections with four. Twelve of the state’s 13 Division I baseball programs had at least one representative, with Richmond and VCU matching the Highlanders with four total selections, Virginia Tech garnering three and both George Mason and Liberty snagging two honorees. The entire team appears on the next page. - MORE - 2015 VASID UNIVERSITY DIVISION ALL-STATE BASEBALL - CONTINUED - Below is the 2015 University Division All-State Baseball team. 2015 University Division All-State Baseball FIRST TEAM SECOND TEAM FIRST BASE *Charley Gould, William & Mary *Brendon Hayden, Virginia Tech SECOND BASE Josh Gardiner, Radford Kyle McPherson, James Madison SHORTSTOP *Daniel Pinero, Virginia *Vimael Machin, VCU THIRD BASE Matt Dacey, Richmond *Kenny Towns, Virginia CATCHER Matt Thaiss, Virginia Matt Winn, VMI OUTFIELD Logan Farrar, VCU Denathan Dukes, Norfolk State Saige Jenco, Virginia Tech Kyri Washington, Longwood Michael Morman, Richmond Luke Willis, George Mason DESIGNATED HITTER Patrick Marshall, Radford Kyle Adams, Richmond UTILITY *Alex Close, Liberty Sean Keselica, Virginia Tech STARTING PITCHERS Michael Boyle, Radford Ryan Cook, Richmond *Nathan Kirby, Virginia Heath Dwyer, VCU Jared Lyons, Liberty Connor Jones, Virginia Matt Outman, Norfolk State RELIEF PITCHERS Ryan Meisinger, Radford Matt Lees, VCU *Josh Sborz, Virginia Evan Porcella, George Mason PLAYER OF THE YEAR: *Michael Morman, Richmond PITCHER OF THE YEAR: Josh Sborz, Virginia ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Pavin Smith, Virginia COACH OF THE YEAR: *Brian O’Connor, Virginia *2015 VaSID Notes Kirby was the 2014 VaSID Pitcher of the Year Mormon is first Richmond Player of the Year since 2002 (Tim Stauffer) O’Connor has also been named Coach of the Year in 2004-07, 2009, 2011-12 and 2014 Repeat selections include: 2012: Close (2nd Team, 1B). 2013: Sborz (2nd Team, RP). 2014: Gould (1st Team, DH); Hayden (2nd Team, DH); Pinero (2nd Team, SS); Machin (1st Team, SS); Towns (2nd Team, 3B); Close (2nd Team, 1B); Kirby (1st Team, SP). .