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ASU’s Arrowood Named 2012 SoCon Pitcher of the Year

Ryan Arrowood. Photo by Rob Moore and courtesy of Appalachian Sports Information

May 22, 2012. Southern Conference Pitcher of the Year Ryan Arrowood (Rutherfordton, N.C./R-S Central) highlights four first-team selections and six overall honorees for Appalachian State University baseball on the SoCon Sports Media Association’s all-conference teams, which were announced Tuesday morning.

Appalachian’s conference-high four first-team selections include Arrowood, shortstop Will Callaway (Greenville, S.C./Eastside), designated hitter Daniel Kassouf (Lexington, N.C./North Davidson) and outfielder Tyler Tewell (Charlotte, N.C./Butler). Second baseman Hector Crespo (Miami, Fla./Florida Christian) and outfielder Tyler Zupcic (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) received second-team accolades to round out the Mountaineers’ league-high-tying six overall honorees.

Additionally, Appalachian’s Chris Pollard was named the media’s SoCon Coach of the Year to complete a sweep of the award from the conference’s coaches and media.

Arrowood became just ASU’s second SoCon Pitcher of the Year ever on the strength of going 9-0 with a 3.93 ERA, .252 opponents’ batting average and 79 strikeouts in 84.2 innings on the season. No other SoCon pitcher has more than five wins without a loss this season and only one other starting pitcher in the conference has lost as few as one game on the campaign. Arrowood’s 79 strikeouts also rank third in the league.

Appalachian’s senior ace went 7-0 with a 3.82 ERA in 10 SoCon starts but his defining moment of the season came in non-conference action when, while battling a groin injury, he threw seven shutout innings to lead the Mountaineers to a 1-0 win at No. 7 LSU on Feb. 25, setting the stage for a historic series victory. He was named National Pitcher of the Week following the sterling performance in Baton Rouge and was named the SoCon’s Pitcher of the Month in April after going 4-0 with a 1.61 ERA and .212 opponents’ batting average over four starts.

Arrowood joins Pete Palmer (1989) as Appalachian’s only SoCon Pitchers of the Year in 40 seasons in the conference. 

The Mountaineers’ six media all-conference honorees are the same six players recognized by the SoCon coaches on Monday, although Arrowood and Tewell made the jump from second team to first team on the media’s ballots. Appalachian’s four first-team selections are twice as many as any other club while its six overall honorees are tied with College of Charleston and Samford for tops in the media voting.

Fresh off of winning its first regular-season SoCon championship in 25 years, Appalachian (38-14, 21-9 SoCon) looks to claim its first conference tournament title since 1984 at this week’s SoCon Tournament in Greenville, S.C. The top-seeded Mountaineers open postseason play versus No. 8-seed Furman (26-29, 13-17 SoCon) on Wednesday at 5 p.m. The tournament runs Wednesday-Sunday at Greenville’s Fluor Field.