O'Brien Garners NEWMAC Pitcher of the Year Honors To Highlight Baseball Postseason Awards
BABSON PARK, Mass. – Four players from the Babson College baseball team earned New England Women’s and Men’s Athletics Conference (NEWMAC) All-Conference honors for the 2010 season, while two others were named to the NEWMAC Academic All-Conference team. Senior left-handed pitcher Michael O’Brien (Shrewsbury, Mass.) highlighted the Beavers’ list of honorees when he was selected as the NEWMAC Pitcher of the Year while also earning All-Conference First Team status.
Joining O’Brien on the first team were senior outfielder Dave Ahern (Bedford, Mass.) and junior second baseman Billy Besinger (Milton, Mass.). Earning second team honors was sophomore first baseman Travis Jonasson (Needham, Mass.). Junior Corey Highfield (East Hampstead, N.H.) and sophomore Kendall Chaves (West Tisbury, Mass.) were also recognized, as both were named to the Academic All-Conference squad.
Receiving postseason recognition for the first time in his career, O’Brien is just the second player in Babson history to earn NEWMAC Pitcher of the Year honors, joining 1996 CAC Player of the Year honoree Sam Kilpatrick (NOTE: the Player and Pitcher of the Year awards were separated in 2006). With two games remaining this spring, O’Brien currently sports an overall record of 4-2 with a 1.91 ERA. He has pitched a team-high 47 innings, only allowing ten earned runs and striking out 44 batters. He currently ranks 10th on the all-time single-season strikeout list and fourth all-time in single-season ERA. He also ranks 8th all-time on the program’s career strikeouts list with 119.
This year’s First Team selection marks the second postseason award of Ahern’s career, as he earned All-Conference Second Team status as a sophomore in 2008. After missing all of 2009 with an injury, Ahern has rebounded spectacularly this spring, ranking second on the team with a .344 batting average and leading the Beavers with 44 hits and 11 doubles.
Another repeat honoree is Besinger, who was named to the All-Conference Second Team as well as the ECAC New England All-Region second team in 2009. This year he has a team-high 31 RBI’s and is tied with Ahern for the team lead with 11 doubles. With two games remaining in his junior season, Besinger currently ranks third on Babosn’s all-time list with a .365 career batting average.
Jonasson earns his first postseason honor earning NEWMAC All-Conference Second Team accolades. He currently boasts 37 hits with eight doubles and three homeruns while ranking second on the team with 25 RBIs. Defensively, he has 267 putouts on the season with a .973 fielding percentage at first base.
Highfield and Chaves both earned spots on the Academic All-Conference Team thanks to stellar performances in the classroom. Highfield played in 13 games at shortstop this spring, batting .270 with 10 hits, five runs scored, and five RBIs, while Chaves has yet to appear in a game this spring.
The Beavers will travel to the University Southern Maine on Wednesday afternoon for a 3:30pm game and will close out the season at home on Thursday at 3:30pm against Rhode Island College.