Ellsbury, Barney, Casey Garner Top Honors
May 31, 2005
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Coming off a Pacific-10 championship season, Oregon State drew most of the top honors when the 2005 All-Pacific-10 Baseball Team was announced Tuesday. Oregon State junior outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury was named Co-Player of the Year, Beaver shortstop Darwin Barney was named Freshman of the Year and OSU's Pat Casey was named Coach of the Year.
Joining Ellsbury (Madras, Ore./Madras HS) and Barney (Beaverton, Ore./Southridge HS) on the all-conference first team were sophomore starting pitcher Dallas Buck (Newberg, Ore./Newberg HS), sophomore relief pitcher Kevin Gunderson (Portland, Ore./Central Catholic HS), senior first baseman Andy Jenkins (Salem, Ore./South Salem HS, Mt. Hood CC) and sophomore starting pitcher Jonah Nickerson (Oregon City, Ore./Oregon City HS). The team and individual honors were chosen by a vote of the conference's head coaches.
Earning honorable mention for OSU were junior relief pitcher Nate Fogle (Gresham, Ore./Centennial HS, Mt. Hood CC), junior infielder Ryan Gipson (Central Point, Ore./Crater HS, Shasta JC), junior outfielder Tyler Graham (Great Falls, Mont./C.M. Russell HS), sophomore starting pitcher Anton Maxwell (Anchorage, Alas./East HS), and junior third baseman Shea McFeely (Federal Way, Wash./Federal Way HS, Tacoma CC).
Oregon State (41-9 overall, 19-5 Pac-10) set a school record for wins and earned its highest rankings ever at the end of the regular season, placing No. 2 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, the Baseball America rankings and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll and No. 3 in the Collegiate Baseball newspaper rankings.
OSU - the No. 8 seed nationally in the 64-team NCAA field - hosts the Corvallis Regional this weekend, starting with a game against Ohio State on Friday at 5 p.m. at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field. Virginia and St. John's will open the tournament at 12 noon; the four-team, double-elimination event runs through Sunday or Monday, depending on whether a seventh game is necessary. Ellsbury shared Player of the Year honors with Arizona outfielder Trevor Crowe, and Southern California's Ian Kennedy earned Pitcher of the Year in the awards announced by Pac-10 Commisioner Tom Hansen.
Ellsbury tied for the Pac-10 lead with a perfect fielding percentage (1.000), never committing an error in 117 chances. He also excelled offensively, finishing second in the Conference in batting average (.415) and on base percentage (.504), while ranking among the Pac-10 leaders in hits (86, 3rd), steals (21, 3rd), slugging percentage (.604, 6th), doubles (17, t-7th) and total bases (125, 9th). His 86 hits on the season are the most in Oregon State history, and his 223 career hits are third most at OSU. A Pac-10 Player of the Week honoree on April 12, Ellsbury is a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award.
Barney started 48 of the Beavers' 50 games this season, batting .304 in 194 at-bats. He hit eight doubles and two home runs while scoring 40 runs and driving in 40. He also walked 17 times. Barney recorded 16 multiple-hit games in 2005, while recording at least one hit in 36 games this season.
With OSU picked to finish sixth in the Pac-10 before the season, Casey led the Beavers to the conference title; the 19 conference wins by the Beavers match the most recorded by a Pac-10 school since the Northern and Southern Divisions merged in 1999.
Under Casey's guidance the Beavers have returned to NCAA Regionals for the the first time since 1986, and will host postseason play for the first time since 1963. In 11 years at Oregon State, Casey has a record of 336-234-4. His previous Pac-10 coaching honor came in 1997, when he was named the Pac-10 North Co-Coach of the Year.
Buck led the Pac-10 in earned run average (1.93) and was tied for first in wins (11). Nickerson was second in ERA (2.13), while Gunderson led the conference in saves (14) was fifth in ERA (2.78). Jenkins was fourth in batting average (.372).
The individual honors for Ellsbury, Barney and Casey are the first for OSU since the conference merged its divisions in 1999. The six first-team picks are the most for the Beavers since then, topping OSU's four first-team selections in 2001.
CO-PLAYERS OF THE YEAR Trevor Crowe, ARIZONA and Jacoby Ellsbury, OREGON STATEHonorable Mention: Erik Averill, Jr., ASU; Eric Berger, Fr., ARIZ; Brad Boyer, Jr., ARIZ; Pat Bresnehan, So., ASU; Zach Clem, Jr., WASH; Josh Conover, Sr., WASH; Allen Craig, Jr., CAL; Colin Curtis, So., ASU; Matt Cusick, Fr., USC; Seth Dhaenens, So., ASU; Jason Donald, So., ARIZ; David Dowling, Sr., WASH; Eric Dworkis, Sr., CAL; Hector Estrella, So., USC; Nate Fogle, RP), OSU; Chris Frey, Jr., ARIZ; Ryan Gipson, INF), OSU; Tuffy Gosewisch, Sr., ASU; Tyler Graham, Jr., OSU; Kevin Guyette, Jr., ARIZ; Matt Hague, Fr., WASH; Cyle Hankerd, So., USC; Billy Hart, Jr., USC; John Hester, Jr., STAN; Chris Jensen, Jr., UCLA; Taylor Johnson, Sr., WASH; Bryan Kervin, Fr., ARIZ; Anton Maxwell, SP), OSU; Shea McFeeley, INF), OSU; Brandon McKerney, Fr., WASH; John Meloan, Jr., ARIZ; Jay Miller, Jr., WSU; Jeff Miller, So., WSU; Dane Renkert, Sr., WSU; Mark Romanczuk, Jr., STAN; Andrew Romine, Fr., ASU; J.J. Sferra, Fr., ASU; Blake Sharpe, Jr., USC; Adam Sorgi, So., STAN; Jack Spradlin, Jr., USC; Matt Swanson, Sr., CAL; Jason Urquidez, Sr., ASU.PITCHER OF THE YEAR Ian Kennedy, USC
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR Darwin Barney, OREGON STATE
COACH OF THE YEAR Pat Casey, OREGON STATE
ALL-PAC-10 TEAM
Name School Pos Yr Ht Wt Hometown Brennan Boesch CAL OF So. 6-6 210 Los Angeles, Calif. Jordan Brown ARIZ 1B Jr. 6-0 210 Vacaville, Calif. Travis Buck (2) ASU OF Jr. 6-2 205 Richland, Wash. Dallas Buck OSU RHP So. 6-2 190 Newberg, Ore. Jeff Clement (3) USC C Jr. 6-1 210 Marshalltown, Iowa Brady Everett WSU C Sr. 5-11 206 Des Moines, Wash. Jeff Gilmore STAN RHP Jr. 6-2 200 Huntington Beach, Calif. Kevin Gunderson OSU RP So. 5-10 160 Portland, Ore. Nick Hundley ARIZ C Jr. 6-1 205 Seattle, Wash. Andy Jenkins OSU 1B Sr. 6-0 200 Salem, Ore. Jeff Larish (2) ASU 1B Sr. 6-2 210 Tempe, Ariz. Brent Lillibridge (3) WASH INF Jr. 5-11 185 Everett, Wash. Tim Lincecum (2) WASH LHP So. 6-0 160 Renton, Wash. Jed Lowrie (2) STAN INF Jr. 6-0 185 Salem, Ore. John Mayberry Jr. (2) STAN 1B Jr. 6-5 230 Kansas City, Mo. Mark Melancon ARIZ RP So. 6-2 210 Golden, Colo. Jonah Nickerson OSU RHP So. 6-1 190 Oregon City, Ore. Josh Satin CAL INF Fr. 6-2 185 Calabasas, Calif. Travis Talbott CAL RP Sr. 5-11 175 Santa Cruz, Calif. Jeff Van Houten (2) ARIZ OF Sr. 5-10 190 Paradise Valley, Ariz.
(2) - Two-time All-Conference selection. (3) - Three-time All-Conference selection.
