Murray State University Athletics
Four 'Breds Earn All-OVC Honors
5/22/2007 5:00:00 AM | Baseball
Four Murray State Thoroughbreds were named to 2007 all-conference teams, according to a release issued by the Ohio Valley Conference today. Voting for the All-OVC teams was done by league coaches and sports information contacts.
Senior center fielder Tyler Pittman was named to the All-OVC First Team. Pittman hit .309 this season, with a slugging percentage of .490. In conference play, he hit .383 with a slugging percentage of .553. This season, the 6-1 native of Wickliffe, Ky., set school career records in hits, doubles and at-bats.
He is tied for third in the OVC with 16 doubles in all games. In conference games only, he ranks seventh in the league in batting (.383), second in doubles (11), sixth in runs batted in (25), sixth in on-base percentage (.468), 10th in slugging (.553) and 10th in runs scored (23).
Named to the All-OVC Second Team were senior first baseman James Akin, senior second baseman Seth Hudson and sophomore third baseman Tyler Owen.
Akin hit .312 this season -- .362 in OVC play -- and was virtually tied as the best defensive first baseman in the league this season, a fraction of a percentage point behind Austin Peay's Jake Lane at .993. The 6-1 Hopkinsville, Ky., native led the team in hits in conference games (38), and was third on the squad in runs (20) and RBIs (19) in OVC games. In league games, he was flawless in the field in 225 chances, making only three errors all season at first base.
Hudson hit .373 and also surpassed the former MSU career hits record of 218 (Craig Delk, 1995-98) this season. He also had the team's longest hitting streak this season at 13 games. He is just one triple behind both the MSU career and single-season records, pursuing the MSU career triples mark set by MSU Hall-of-Famer Jack Perconte (12, 1973-76) and the school single-season mark of 7, set by Mike Talbott in 1955.
Hudson was third in the OVC in batting (.373), tied for fourth in hits (78) and was first in triples (6). The 5-9 native of Cape Girardeau, Mo., ranked tied for eighth in runs (42) and ninth in on-base percentage (.436). In OVC games only, he ranked tied for third in hits (25) and tied for sixth in runs (37).
Owen was named to the All-OVC Second Team as an at-large nominee. He led the OVC in hitting (.398) and slugging (.580) in conference games for much of the season.
A 6-0 native of Evansville, Ind., Owen ranks seventh in the OVC in batting (.356) in all games. In conference games only, he is fifth in batting (.398), sixth in slugging (.580), ninth in RBIs (23) and ninth in on-base percentage (.461).
Murray State begins play in the O'Reilly OVC Baseball Championship on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., as the sixth-seeded 'Breds take on No. 3 Southeast Missouri.
