May 20, 2008

All-Conference Team

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Senior catchers Derek Mechling of Duquesne and Charlotte's Chris Taylor have been named Atlantic 10 Baseball Players of the Year in voting conducted among the league's head coaches. Tom Davis, a senior righthander from Fordham, earned Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year honors and freshman second baseman Corey Shaylor of Charlotte was named Rookie of the Year. In that same vote, Xavier's Scott Googins was tabbed the Coach of the Year.

Additionally, for the second consecutive year, St. Bonaventure senior Randy Moley was named Student-Athlete of the Year in voting among the Conference's sports information directors.

Mechling boasts an impressive .988 fielding percentage from behind the plate and leads his third-seeded Dukes in home runs (12), runs scored (57) and slugging percentage (.614). Hailing from Homer City, Pa., his runs scored total ranks fourth in the Conference while he is fifth in the league in home runs and sixth in slugging percentage. Mechling hit lead-off for the Dukes and set a school record with a 17-game hitting streak and also tied individual game school records when he hit three home runs, drove in seven RBI and scored five times in a win over La Salle. In addition, he ranks second all-time at Duquesne with 24 career home runs and joins Taylor on the watch list for the Johnny Bench Award.

Taylor leads the A-10 in home runs (18), runs batted in (66) and total bases (148) and ranks second in the league in slugging percentage (.679) and is fifth overall in hits (76). The catcher from Mt. Pleasant, N.C., hit a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the tenth inning of the 49ers' 2-1 win over Rhode Island on May 17 to give Charlotte a share of the A-10 regular season title and the second seed in this week's Championship. His 18 homers place him in a tie for third on the school's single-season list, while his five consecutive games with a home run established a program record. A two-time Player of the Week selection, Taylor was a second-team All-Conference and All-Championship team honoree in 2007 and is on the watch list for the Johnny Bench Award, given to the nation's top catcher. This marks the first time in league history that two student-athletes were named Players of the Year.

Davis (9-2) leads the A-10 in wins (nine) and earned run average (1.90) while registering 62 strikeouts in a career-best 90.0 innings pitched. A second-team All-Conference selection a year ago,. the senior righthander yielded just 79 hits and 28 walks while holding opposing hitters to a .235 average. A native of Madison, Conn., Davis won seven games in A-10 play ends his career as the program's all-time leader in starts (50) and innings pitched (339.0).

Joining Mechling, Taylor and Davis on the All-Conference first-team are Aaron Janusey of Duquesne; La Salle's John Rickards; Brad McElroy, Rob Lyerly and Kelly McLain of Charlotte; Rhode Island's Shaun Hagey; Rich Goulian of Fordham; George Washington's Charlie Kruer; Randy Moley from St. Bonaventure; and Xavier's Michael Lucas. Kruer and McElroy are making their second straight appearance on the All-Conference first-team.

The second-team consists of Xavier's Zac Richards and Jordan Conley; Corey Shaylor, Aaron Bray, Shayne Moody, O'Brien Taylor and Joe Yermal of Charlotte; Duquesne's Mike Carroll; Hank Coogan from Richmond; Zach Zaneski of Rhode Island; Temple's Byron McKoy; and Cody Vincent of St. Bonaventure.

Shaylor has enjoyed an impressive rookie campaign for Charlotte. Hailing from Charlotte, N.C., the second baseman leads the 49ers with a .373 batting average which ranks second overall in the A-10. He was named Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for the week of Mar. 31 and over the course of the season had only 15 strikeouts in 158 total at-bats while his on-base percentage (.506) is fourth-highest on the squad.

Along with Shaylor, the All-Rookie team includes teammate Joe Yermal; Billy Barber and Mike Mergenthaler of Richmond; Temple's Byron McCoy; Mike Coleman of Saint Joseph's; George Washington's Eric Cantrell; Kevin Fuqua of La Salle; and Dayton's Burny Mitchem.

Moley repeats as Student-Athlete of the Year and is a member of the Academic All-Conference team for the third consecutive season. The senior centerfielder from Lancaster, N.Y., leads the league in batting (.417), hits (83), on-base percentage (.502) and runs (60) and ranks third in both RBI (56) and doubles (19). In the classroom, Moley boasts a 3.95 grade point average as a management sciences major and is a three-time ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District first-team selection.

Moley is joined on the Academic All-Conference team by Quinn Haselhorst and Kevin Miller of Dayton; Duquesne's Aaron Janusey and Derek Mechling; Alex Burt of Charlotte; Fordham's Eric Reese; Mitchell Eilenberg of Massachusetts; Casey Moore of Saint Louis; and Xavier's Michael Lucas.

Googins earns Coach of the Year honors after guiding Xavier to a program-best 19 wins in Conference play and the top seed in this week's Atlantic 10 Championship (May 21-24). The Musketeers (25-29) rank in the top five in the league in both hitting (.290) and earned run average (5.35) and nine of their 25 wins this season have been decided by one run. A 1992 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan, Googins holds a career record of 73-97 in three years at Xavier.