Big East Baseball Awards

Rutgers third-baseman Patrick Kivelehan, who became the first player in league history to win the BIG EAST Triple Crown, became the third Scarlet Knight player to be named BIG EAST Player of the Year as he earned the league’s top individual honor Tuesday in advance of the 2012 BIG EAST Baseball Championship at Bright House Field.

Louisville pitcher Justin Amlung was chosen as BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year, while the Cardinals also had the BIG EAST Rookie of the Year as pitcher Jared Ruxer was tabbed as the league’s top newcomer. St. John’s head coach Ed Blankmeyer was named the BIG EAST Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his career.

Kivlehan’s selection as BIG EAST Player of the Year punctuates an incredible season for the Scarlet Knight third-baseman – a four-year football player for Rutgers who had not played baseball since high school before he joined the team as a walk-on in January. He finished the BIG EAST portion of the schedule with a .402 batting average, 10 home runs and 36 RBI in conference games, becoming the first player in conference history to lead the league in all three categories. He played in 49 games overall and led the BIG EAST in batting (.399), slugging (.710), home runs (14) and on-base percentage (.484). He was third in the BIG EAST with 50 RBI and ranked second with 130 total bases.

Kivlehan joins Todd Frazier (2007) and Darren Fenster (2000) as Rutgers players who have been named BIG EAST Player of the Year.

Amlung becomes the fourth Louisville player in the last six years to be chosen as BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year after he helped the Cardinals to a share of the BIG EAST regular-season title and the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. He went 5-1 with a 1.63 earned-run average and 63 strikeouts in 60.2 innings in league play and had a league-leading 2.16 ERA overall. Amlung takes an 8-3 record, with 94 strikeouts in 96 innings, into the postseason and joins Thomas Royse (2010), Justin Marks (2009) and Zack Pitts (2007) as Louisville’s BIG EAST Pitcher of the Year selections.

Ruxer is the second Louisville player, and the first since Marks in 2007, to be named as BIG EAST Rookie of the Year. Ruxer went 8-1 with a 2.61 ERA in 14 appearances in the regular season and was 3-1 with a 2.64 ERA in five BIG EAST starts. He enters the postseason ranked second in the BIG EAST in wins and fifth in ERA.

Blankmeyer was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year for a record fifth time as he previously earned the honor in 1996, 2005, 2007 and 2008. He led St. John’s to a 33-21 record in the regular-season and helped the Red Storm to a share of their seventh BIG EAST regular-season title with an 18-9 conference record. The 18 conference wins lifted Blankmeyer’s career total to a BIG EAST record 274 league victories.

Kivlehan was the only unanimous selection to the 14-man All-BIG EAST First Team as he earned the selection at third base. Ten teams accounted for the 14 players on the first team, with Connecticut placing a league-high three players on the squad (relief pitcher Scott Oberg, second-baseman L.J. Mazzilli and outfielder Billy Ferriter). Amlung was Louisville’s lone selection to the first team, though the Cardinals had a league-high 10 players chosen to the three all-conference teams.

St. John’s outfielder Jeremy Baltz earned his third consecutive selection to the All-BIG EAST First Team, while Amlung was chosen to the first team for the second consecutive year.

                                      2012 BIG EAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL AWARDS

BIG EAST PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Patrick Kivlehan, 3B, Rutgers (Jr., West Nyack, N.Y.)

BIG EAST PITCHER OF THE YEAR

Justin Amlung, RHP, Louisville (Jr., Louisville, Ky.)

BIG EAST ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Jared Ruxer, RHP, Louisville (Fr., Indianapolis, Ind.)

BIG EAST COACH OF THE YEAR

Ed Blankmeyer, St. John’s

ALL-BIG EAST FIRST TEAM

Pos.

Player

School

Cl

Hometown

P

Justin Amlung

Louisville

Jr.

Louisville, Ky.

P

Sean Hagan

St. John’s

Jr.

Larchmont, N.Y.

P

Jon Prosinski

Seton Hall

Jr.

Skillman, N.J.

P

Andrew Barbosa

USF

Sr.

San Juan, P.R.

RP

Scott Oberg

Connecticut

Jr.

Tewksbury, Mass.

C

Jeff Melillo

Rutgers

Sr.

Annandale, N.J.

1B

Rick Devereaux

Pittsburgh

Sr.

Oakdale, Pa.

2B

L.J. Mazzilli

Connecticut

Jr.

Greenwich, Conn.

3B

Patrick Kivlehan *

Rutgers

Jr.

West Nyack, N.Y.

SS

Mike Garza

Georgetown

Jr.

San Antonio, Texas

OF

Justin Glass

Cincinnati

So.

Fort Wayne, Ind.

OF

Billy Ferriter

Connecticut

Jr.

Nashua, N.H.

OF

Jeremy Baltz

St. John’s

Jr.

Vestal, N.Y.

DH

Matt Fleishman

Villanova

Sr.

East Northport, N.Y.

* unanimous selection

ALL-BIG EAST SECOND TEAM

Pos.

Player

School

Cl

Hometown

P

Jeff Thompson

Louisville

So.

Greenville, Ind.

P

Will Hudgins

Notre Dame

Sr.

Richmond, Va.

P

Ryan Harvey

Seton Hall

Jr.

Manalapan, N.J.

P

Derrick Stultz

USF

Sr.

Tampa, Fla.

RP

Dan Slania

Notre Dame

So.

Tucson, Ariz.

C

Joe Hudson

Notre Dame

Jr.

Odessa, Fla.

1B

Stewart Ijames

Louisville

Sr.

Owensboro, Ky.

2B

Tyler Sciacca

Villanova

Sr.

Staten Island, N.Y.

3B

Eric Jagielo

Notre Dame

So.

Downers Grove North, Ill.

SS

Matt Wessinger

St. John’s

Sr.

Liverpool, N.Y.

OF

Adam Engel

Louisville

So.

Loveland, Ohio

OF

Cole Sturgeon

Louisville

So.

Owensboro, Ky.

OF

James Ramsay

USF

So.

Brandon, Fla.

DH

Jeff Gardner

Louisville

So.

Louisville, Ky.

ALL-BIG EAST THIRD TEAM

Pos.

Player

School

Cl

Hometown

P

Jared Ruxer

Louisville

Fr.

Indianapolis, Ind.

P

Matt Iannazzo

Pittsburgh

Sr.

Norwalk, Conn.

P

Rob Smorol

Rutgers

Jr.

Clark, N.J.

P

Kyle Hansen

St. John’s

Jr.

Glen Gove, N.Y.

RP

Derek Self

Louisville

Sr.

Cave City, Ky.

RP

Benny Mejia

Seton Hall

Sr.

Paterson, N.J.

C

Joe Pavone

Connecticut

Sr.

Rochester, N.Y.

1B

Trey Mancini

Notre Dame

So.

Winter Haven, Fla.

2B

Nick Ratajczak

Louisville

Jr.

Joliet, Ill.

3B

Ty Young

Louisville

So.

Coatesville, Pa

SS

Giuseppe Papaccio

Seton Hall

Jr.

Belle Mead, N.J.

OF

Justin Leeson

Georgetown

Jr.

Exton, Pa.

OF

Brian O’Grady

Rutgers

So.

Warminster, Pa.

OF

Zach Granite

Seton Hall

So.

Staten Island, N.Y.

OF

Bobby Boyd

West Virginia

Fr.

Silver Spring, Md.

DH

Anthony DeFabio

Pittsburgh

Sr.

Pittsburgh, Pa.





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