May 26, 2010

VCU’S KEYES NAMED CAA CO-COACH OF THE YEAR; FIVE RAMS EARN ALL-CAA HONORS

WILMINGTON, N.C. – Virginia Commonwealth University Head Baseball Coach Paul Keyes and five Rams players received All-Colonial Athletic Association recognition Wednesday evening at the conference’s annual pre-tournament awards banquet on the campus of UNC Wilmington.

Keyes was named CAA Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career and shared the honor this season with James Madison University skipper Spanky McFarland.  Junior third baseman Joe Van Meter received first team honors, while senior second baseman Richard Gonzalez and sophomore righthanded pitcher Seth Cutler-Voltz were named to the league’s second team.  Senior closer Robbie Andrews and sophomore catcher Taylor Perkins garnered third team recognition.

VCU, which has competed in 12 of the previous 14 conference tournaments since joining the CAA in 1996, missed the postseason event each of the past two seasons and was picked to finish seventh in this year’s preseason poll.  Behind a young pitching staff and veteran infield, Keyes guided the Rams to a third-place finish and a spot in the CAA Tournament for the first time since 2007.  He also collected his 13th 30-win campaign in 16 seasons at VCU.

Van Meter turned in one of the best offensive seasons for the Rams in recent memory.  The Oyster Bay, N.Y., native’s .430 batting average and 66 RBI are the third-best single-season marks in VCU history, while his 96 base hits are four shy of tying the Rams season record and are six away from the conference’s top spot.  Van Meter, who matched the Black & Gold’s single-game home run record with three at Virginia Military Institute earlier this season, earned national recognition as he received College Baseball Insider Northeast Player of the Week honors, while also being named to the College Baseball Foundation’s National All-Star weekly squad on April 25.   

A four-year starter for the Rams, Gonzalez has steadily increased his offensive production each season and contributed his finest campaign at VCU in 2010.  He finished the regular season hitting .397 with a team-best 60 runs, 19 doubles, 25 walks and 20 stolen bases.  Gonzalez also proved to be one of the best defensive players in the league after committing just one error at second base in 18 conference games.

Cutler-Voltz, who was at the top of the Rams starting rotation all year long, finished the regular season 7-3 with a 3.17 ERA and tossed four complete games.  He fanned 62 batters in a league-high 102.1 innings pitched and was 5-1 with a 2.89 ERA in eight conference starts.  The two-year standout has thrown at least seven innings in 10 of his previous 12 outings, while his strikeout-to-walk ratio is nearly 3-to-1.

Meanwhile, Andrews helped anchor the back end of the Rams’ bullpen this season finishing with nine saves, which was the second-most in the league and ranks fifth in VCU single-season history.  The Covington, Va., native led the league in games finished with 24 and was third in the conference with 27 relief appearances.  Andrews logged 31.2 innings and finished the regular season with a 3.41 ERA.

Perkins provided the Rams stability behind the plate all year in what was considered the team’s biggest weakness entering the season.  Listed as an outfielder/righthanded pitcher prior to 2010, Keyes and his staff converted the Dinwiddie, Va., native to catcher and he responded by hitting .325 with 30 RBI in 49 games.  Perkins also collected six doubles, two triples and a pair of home runs, while throwing out 12 base runners.

VCU will begin its quest for the program’s fifth CAA Tournament title in its last seven trips and 10th NCAA Tournament appearance when it faces second-seeded Georgia State University in the opening round of the event Thursday at 3 p.m. at Brooks Field.