Florida Atlantic University Athletics
Four Baseball Players Earn All-Sun Belt Conference Honors
5/22/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Albaladejo On All-Sun Belt Selection
Garton Discusses All-Sun Belt Award
Spano On Second-Team All-Sun Honor
Bowling Green, KY - Four members of the regular-season championship Florida Atlantic University baseball team have reaped All-Sun Belt Conference honors for their performances throughout the spring season. The awards were announced today by the league office prior to start of the conference's championship tournament onWednesday, May 23 in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Senior pitcher Ryan Garton, junior relief pitcher R.J. Alvarez and senior second baseman Mike Albaladejo earned first-team All-Sun Belt honors, while junior catcher Mike Spano was a second-team selection.
FAU was one of two teams to have three players honored on the conference's first team.
"It is a great honor to be named to an all-conference team," said John McCormack, FAU's head baseball coach. "Ryan, R.J. and Mike Albaladejo all named to first team and Mike Spano to the second team were a big part of our success. It is nice when your peers recognize what they do for our team. We are so proud of them and they all are deserving of this honor."
The Owls are the tournament's No. 1 seed after winning their second regular-season title in the last three years. The team went 19-8 during conference play and 31-20 overall.
Garton ranked among the SBC's best pitchers in four statistical categories after posting a career-high nine victories, with six of the wins in league games. The right hander from New Port Richey had a 3.13 earned run average and 79 strikeouts in 86.1 innings. He is a co-captain of the championship team.
Alvarez has been the league's dominant closing pitcher this spring, posting a 5-0 record, eight saves and a dazzling 0.53 earned run average. All eight saves of the right hander's save have come in SBC games, when he has allowed just 10 base runners in 18 innings. He has recorded 45 strikeouts and allowed just nine walks in 21 appearances this season. Alvarez was named to the midseason watch list for the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association "Stopper of the Year" award after being a preseason All-American candidate.
Albaladejo earned all-league honors at second base after entering the season as a preseason All-Sun Belt Conference choice at catcher. The Winter Garden native ranks fourth in the league with a .354 batting average and his 70 hits stand eighth in the SBC. He has tallied 19 multiple-hit efforts this spring, including eight three-hit efforts. He made a smooth transition to second base, committing just five errors, after playing the first three seasons behind the plate. The next game will be Albaladejo's 200th career game, ranking 10th in program history. He has started 180 games, which stands 11th in the school's record book.
Spano replaced Albaladejo as the Owls' regular catcher. In the batter's box, the Naples native strung together a season-high 11-game hitting streak and had a .287 batting average, three home runs and 22 runs batted in. Defensively, he threw out nearly 29 percent of potential base runners (10-of-34).
FAU opens play in the conference tournament on Wednesday, May 23, at 8 p.m. against Western Kentucky University at the Bowling Green Ballpark. There will be games against ULM on Thursday, May 24 at 4 p.m. and the University of South Alabama on Friday, May 25 at 8 p.m. The team with the best record following pool play advances to the championship game on Sunday, May 27 at 2 p.m.
Live audio and statistics of all three FAU tournament games can be found at www.fausports.com.
