Rohan, Carpenter Headline MAC Awards
5/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
CLEVELAND - A pair of Kent State juniors were named to major Mid-American Conference regular season awards Tuesday.
Greg Rohan, a slugging first baseman from North Lima, Ohio was named the 2008 MAC Player of Year while Chris Carpenter, a twice-drafted pitcher from Bryan, Ohio earned the honor of 2008 MAC Pitcher of the Year. Western Michigan pitcher Brian Stroud was named the MAC Freshman of the Year and Eastern head coach Jake Boss Jr. was announced the MAC Coach of the Year in conjunction with this week's MAC Tournament in Chillicothe.
"It's obviously a tremendous honor for two co-captains who have led our team all year," head coach Scott Stricklin said. "I think even though it's an individual honor for them, it certainly reflects the kind of season our team is having."
Rohan finished the regular season leading the league in homeruns (19), RBI's (58, 1.16 per game) and slugging percentage (.772), while ranking second in the league in total bases (142). This marks the fifth time that the Player of the Year award has gone to someone from Kent State . KSU's Dave Bettendorf (1987), Mike Gulan (1992), John VanBenschoten (2001) and Emmanel Burriss (2006) have also been recognized as the top player in the MAC.
Carpenter posted a 6-2 mark with a 3.82 earned-run average in 12 starts during the regular season. In eight MAC starts, he was 5-1 with a 2.79 ERA. Carpenter led the league in strikeouts with 81, while opposing hitters logged a batting average of .206 against him. It marks the eighth time that someone from KSU has won the award as Brian Schubert (1990), Bill Underwood (1992), Mike Nartker (1993, 1995), Travis Miller (1994), Ted Rose (1996) and Dirk Hayhurst (2003) represent the Golden Flashes in the record books.
Rohan and Carpenter also qualified for the All-MAC First Team, and they were joined there by sophomore pitcher Kyle Smith. Three more Flashes earned All-MAC Second Team nods in Doug Sanders, Chris Tremblay and Anthony Gallas. Rohan was one of only two unanimous decisions in the balloting.
Kent State opens post-season play against Central Michigan Wednesday night at V.A. Memorial Stadium in Chillicothe.
