May 5, 2004

Lancaster, PA - Johns Hopkins senior second baseman Tim Casale (West Hempstead, NY/Chaminade) was named the Centennial Conference Baseball Player of the Year while senior righthander Jeremy Brown (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh) was named the Pitcher of the Year as the league announced its all-conference teams Wednesday.

Casale and Brown were joined on the first team by senior righthander Matt Righter (Clarion, PA/Lawrenceville Prep) and junior centerfielder Paul Winterling (Glenelg, MD/McDonogh). Junior first baseman Mike Durgala (Annandale, VA/Thomas Jefferson), junior third baseman Mike Spiciarich (Syosset, NY/Chaminade), senior rightfielder Rob Morrison (Malibu, CA/Loyola) and senior designated hitter Brian Morley (Tappan, NY/Don Bosco Prep) were second team selections.

Casale, who has also played shortstop this season, is batting .434 with team-highs of 53 hits, 38 runs scored and five triples. Additionally he has hit eight doubles, knocked in 22 runs and stolen 22 bases in 24 attempts while posting 16 multiple-hit games this season. Casale, who was named the conference co-player of the week on April 12, went 6-for-12 with five runs scored over the weekend in the league tournament and recorded five three-hit games from the leadoff spot this year. He has recorded a hit in 30 of the 33 games in which he has an at bat this season, and currently is ranked 29th in Division III stolen bases per game. Casale is the seventh Blue Jay to earn player of the year honors in the conference's 11th season.

Brown, who earned the pitcher of the year award for the second straight season, leads Hopkins this year with eight wins, a 1.79 earned run average, 70.1 innings pitched, 82 strikeouts and a 1.71 opponents' batting average. He allowed one earned run in seven-inning complete game wins over Ursinus on March 27 and Franklin & Marshall on April 10, and gave up one earned run in consecutive nine-inning complete game victories over McDaniel on April 15 and Catholic on April 21. Brown is currently third all-time at Hopkins with 236 strukeouts and eighth with 23 career wins, while his .821 career winning percentage is the fourth highest in JHU history.

Righter ranks second on the Blue Jays with a 2.13 earned run average, 46 strikeouts and a .212 opponents' batting average, while his six wins are tied for second on the team. He had three consecutive scoreless appearances during Hopkins' spring break trip, and did now allow an earned run in a seven-inning complete game win over Ursinus on March 27. Righter, who was named the CC Pitcher of the Week two days later, allowed just one run in a victory over Haverford on April 17 and in his next outing a week later did not allow an earned run in five innings against Muhlenberg.

Winterling, the conference player of the year in 2003, is batting .327 this season with a team-high nine home runs and 45 runs batted in. He ranks second on the team with 34 runs scored, has stolen a team-high 26 bases and has added 32 hits and nine doubles. Winterling, who is 15th in Division III in stolen bases per game and 19th in RBIs per game, has two three-hit games and six two-hit games this season. In Sunday's 17-9 win over Franklin & Marshall that clinched the conference championship, he went 2-for-5 with two home runs and five runs batted in. Winterling is currently tied for third at Hopkins with 22 career home runs.

Durgala is batting .375 this year while tying for the team lead with 11 doubles and ranking second with 36 RBIs. He is also tied for second with five home runs, has scored 29 runs and recorded 36 hits this season while batting in the cleanup spot. Durgala went 4-for-5 with four runs scored and four RBIs in a 17-4 win over No. 24 Wheaton (MA) on March 19, and was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and two batted in during a 13-4 win over Washington College on April 9. Durgala, who was named the conference player of the week on March 22, also recorded three hits in two other games this season and added six two-hit games, including a 2-for-4, four RBI performance against the Diplomats on Saturday in the league tournament.

Spiciarich, who like Durgala was named to the all-conference second team last season, is batting .351 this season with 34 hits, 33 runs scored, six doubles and 20 runs batted in. He went 4-for-5 in the 12-4 win over Edgewood on March 19 and a day later was 3-for-4 with four runs scored during the victory over Wheaton. Spiciarich, who made the transition to third base this season due to the injury to Paul Long, also had three hits in a 13-3 win at Washington College on April 6 and was named the league's player of the week this Monday after a big conference tournament. Spiciarich entered the weekend with no home runs on the year, but hit one while going 2-for-3 with two RBIs and four runs scored Saturday, and hit two more Sunday while going 4-for-5 with four RBIs and four runs scored.

Morrison leads the Blue Jays and ranks third in Division III with a .495 batting average and is second on the team with 51 hits. Morrison, who is currently riding a 14-game hit streak, has recorded a hit in 26 of the 28 games in which he has an at-bat this season. He went 4-for-5 with two runs scored in the win over Wheaton on March 20, has six three-hit games and 10 two-games games this year. In Saturday's win over F&M in the conference tournament Morrison went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a runs scored, and was 3-for-6 with two runs batted in and three runs scored in Sunday's victory.

Morley, who has played rightfield and first base this season in addition to being the team's designated hitter, is hitting .340 while tying for the club lead with 11 doubles. He is tied for second on the team with five home runs, third with 25 runs batted in, and tied for fourth with 34 hits this year. Morley went 4-for-5 with two homers, two doubles and four RBIs in a 15-5 win at Gettysburg on March 26, and was 3-for-4 with three RBIs in the victory over Washington College on April 9. He has nine two-hit games this year, and in Saturday's conference tournament win he drilled a grand slam.

The Blue Jays now have had a league-best 37 first team All-Centennial selections since 1994; Ursinus is second with 24 first-team selections.

Top-ranked Hopkins, which is 36-1 this season, travels to York today for a 3:30 p.m. game with the Spartans and hosts Mary Washington Thursday at 2 p.m.

All-Centennial Conference First Team
P - Jeremy Brown, Johns Hopkins
P - Matt Righter, Johns Hopkins
C - Dan Weber, Franklin & Marshall
1B - Geoff Neese, Dickinson
2B - Tim Casale, Johns Hopkins
SS - Ryan Shotzberger, McDaniel
3B - Gary Kruger, Franklin & Marshall
OF - Paul Winterling, Johns Hopkins
OF - Chris Seibert, McDaniel
OF - Ryan Regensburg, Ursinus
DH - Scott Haft, Franklin & Marshall

Second Team
P - Ryan Bown, Ursinus
P - Nick Chanock, Haverford
C - Tre Dwinell, Dickinson
1B - Mike Durgala, Johns Hopkins
2B - Brandon Mills, Haverford
SS - Matt Long, Muhlenberg
3B - Mike Spiciarich, Johns Hopkins
OF - Rob Morrison, Johns Hopkins
OF - Dan Hanecak, Franklin & Marshall
OF - Dave Wrenthan, Haverford
DH - Brian Morley, Johns Hopkins

Honorable Mention
P - Scott Barr, Ursinus
P - Jared Leiderman, Swarthmore
2B - Rob Georgiou, Franklin & Marshall
SS - Jonas Clark, Haverford
3B - Ron Lettieri, Gettysburg
OF - Jay McEvoy, Washington College
OF - Ryan Stearrett, Dickinson
DH - Miles Hunt, Dickinson

-30-

© 2009 CBS Interactive. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use | About Us | Advertise | Feedback | XML RSS Feeds