14 members of Sun Devil baseball earn All-Pac-10 Honors

May 28, 2009

Fourteen members of the 2009 Pac-10 Champion Arizona State Sun Devil baseball team earned All-Pac-10 Conference honors, the conference has announced. Six players from the three-time defending conference champions were named to the All-Pac-10 Team, while eight others earned honorable mentions. Arizona State also took home three individual awards.<separator></separator>For the second straight season, junior RHP <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/leake_mike00.html">Mike Leake</a> was named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year. Leake becomes the first ever Pac-10 player to win the award in back-to-back seasons and the fourth two-time winner. Leake is currently 14-1 with a 1.24 ERA, both of which lead the conference. He has fanned 128 batters in 115.2 innings, walking only 18. It is the fourth time an Arizona State pitcher has been named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year (Leake 2008, Noah Peery 1994 and Marc Barcelo 1993).<separator></separator>Junior outfielder <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/kipnis_jason00.html">J… Kipnis</a>, who earned All-Pac-10 honors and the Newcomer of the Year award last season, was named the 2009 Pac-10 Player of the Year. He is the third straight Sun Devil to win the award, joining <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/wallace_brett00.html">… Wallace</a>, who won the last two. Kipnis leads Arizona State with his .380 batting average and has hit 14 homers and driven in 65 RBI. He has also stolen a league-leading 21 bases. Arizona State was the last school to have three consecutive Players of the Year when <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/bloomquist_willie00.ht… Bloomquist</a> won in 1999 followed by <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/myers_casey00.html">Ca… Myers</a> in both 2000 and 2001. Kipnis is the 14th Pac-10 Player of the Year in ASU history.<separator></separator>Head Coach <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/murphy_pat00.html">Pat Murphy</a> was named the Pac-10 Coach of the Year for the third straight season and fourth time in his career. Murphy has led the Sun Devils to a 44-12 regular season record, including a 21-6 conference mark and the Pac-10 crown. It is the first time since the Pac-10 divisions merged in 1999 that a coach has won the award three straight seasons. The award is voted on by Pac-10 baseball coaches. It is the ninth Pac-10 Coach of the Year award in ASU history.<separator></separator>Joining Kipnis and Leake on the All-Pac-10 team were freshman LHP <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/lambson_mitchell00.htm… Lambson</a>, sophomore OF/LHP <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/newman_matt00.html">Ma… Newman</a>, junior C <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/ramirez_carlos00.html"… Ramirez</a><a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/spence_josh00.html"> </a>and junior LHP<a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/spence_josh00.html"> Josh Spence</a>. Kipnis earned the honor for the second straight year, while Leake was the only member of the 25-man All-Conference team to earn the distinction for the third straight season. Arizona State led all schools with the six All-Conference student-athletes. California was second with four. <separator></separator>Sophomore RHP <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/blair_seth00.html">Seth Blair</a>, junior OF <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/calhoun_kole00.html">K… Calhoun</a>, freshman 2B <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/macphee_zack00.html">Z… MacPhee</a>, freshman SS <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/maggi_drew00.html">Drew Maggi</a>, junior INF <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/mcdonald_jared00.html"… McDonald</a>, freshman RHP/UTL <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/swagerty_jordan00.html… Swagerty</a>, junior 3B <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/torrez_raoul00.html">R… Torrez</a> and freshman INF <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/torrez_riccio00.html">… Torrez</a> all earned Honorable Mention All-Pac-10.<separator></separator>