Murray State University Athletics
Cunningham, Owen Earn All-OVC Honors
5/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Murray State sophomore designated hitter Wes Cunningham and junior third baseman Tyler Owen were honored by the Ohio Valley Conference as Cunningham was named to the all-conference first team, while Owen garnered second-team laurels, the league office announced on Monday. The teams were voted on by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.
Cunningham (Louisville, Ky.) was tabbed as the top designated hitter in the league after hitting .380 with four doubles, three triples, two home runs and 30 RBIs. He had the sixth best batting average in the league and ranked among the league leaders in walks and on-base percentage. He reached safely in 46 of the 48 games in which he appeared, including a stretch of 37-straight games.
Owen (Evansville, Ind.) was named to the All-OVC second team for the second-straight season. Owen had one of the biggest turnarounds in all of college baseball as he finished the season with a .293 average after starting the season 0-for-25. He broke out of his slump by getting hits in four-straight at-bats and then had a three-game stretch late in the season in which he went 11-for-15, including back-to-back four-hit performances.
Jacksonville State outfielder Clay Whittemore and Samford shortstop Michael Maresco were named co-Players of the Year, while Eastern Kentucky left hander Christian Friedrich was named the Pitcher of the Year. Regular season champion JSU took home two more individual honors as Todd Cunningham was named the league's top freshman and Jim Case was named the Coach of the Year.
Whittemore and Maresco became the first people to share the Player of the Year award since Austin Peay's Randy McDermott and Middle Tennessee's Gary Myers did so 16 years ago. Whittemore, who also won the 2007 OVC Player of the Year honor during his All-American junior campaign, became only the second player to win multiple awards, equaling the feat achieved by Murray State's George Dugan, who won three awards from 1963-65. Marseco became the first Samford Bulldog to win the honor.
