May 19, 2008

DAYTON, Ohio - The University of Dayton baseball team wrapped up the fifth 30-win season in program history on Sunday by announcing its postseason award winners as selected by the team and coaches. Kevin Miller was picked as the White-Allen Most Valuable Player while Lucas Farden was given Most Valuable Pitcher honors. Cole Tyrell was selected as the Most Improved Player and Jacob Spaeth was the Best Practice Player.

Miller has the best season of his career in 2008 as a senior. He entered with a .207 career average and led UD with a .362 mark this year. Miller was also one of the best in the Atlantic 10 Conference in on-base percentage (.450) while leading the team with four outfield assists. He also won ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second Team honors last week and is a nominee for Atlantic 10 Academic All-Conference recognition.

Farden made 22 appearances including six starts on the mound for Dayton this season. He was third on the team with a 2.99 ERA while leading all Flyers with 73 strikeouts and 87.1 innings pitched. After making his first 15 appearances of the season from the bullpen, Farden moved into the starting rotation to toss complete games against Atlantic 10 opponents George Washington, Massachusetts and Temple.

After hitting just .216 as a freshman, Tyrell lifted his play to post a .305 batting average in 2008. He was second on the team in stolen bases (nine), times hit by pitch (18) while ranking third in batting average and on base percentage (.399). Tyrell posted three game-winning RBI this season while helping the Flyer infield turn 41 double plays with his solid defense at shortstop.

Spaeth appeared in every game in 2008 with time spent both in the outfield and a second base. He was a perfect 11-for-11 in stolen bases while posting a .381 on base percentage after collecting 20 walks and being hit by pitch 18 times. His best performance of the season came in an extra-inning win over Wright State when he was 2-for-2 including a double while being hit by pitch twice, walking once, driving in two and scoring four more runs for the Flyers.

Dayton tallied with a 31-25 overall record in 2008 to finish seventh in the 14-team Atlantic 10 Conference. UD posted its fifth 30-win season in program history, which have all come since 2001 under the direction of ninth-year head coach Tony Vittorio. Dayton also became just the second team in NCAA history to be hit by pitch more than 100 times in consecutive seasons as it was plunked a school-record 107 times in 2008. The Flyer pitching staff was also one of the best overall in the nation with a 4.24 ERA that ranked among the top 30 in the nation.