FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
S-111-05-06
Monday, May 15, 2006

Seven Elizabethtown College Baseball Players Named to All-Commonwealth Conference Teams; Dean Whetham on First Team; Adam Sheibley Conference Co-Rookie of the Year

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Seven members of the Elizabethtown College baseball team have been named to the All-Commonwealth Conference teams for the 2006 season. Junior third baseman Dean Whetham (Wilmington, DE/Brandywine) was the lone Blue Jay on the First Team, while first-year second baseman Adam Sheibley (Landisburg, PA/West Perry), senior shortstop Jon Kalejta (Boyertown, PA/Boyertown), junior center fielder Mike Donahue (Hatfield, PA/Lansdale Catholic), junior starting pitcher Tyler Hoffman (Phoenix, MD/Loyola Blakefield), senior starting pitcher Scott Beard (Willow Grove, PA/La Salle College) and senior relief pitcher Matt Woehnker (Colts Neck, NJ/Christian Brothers Academy) all earned spots on the Second Team. Additionally, Sheibley was named the conference’s Co-Rookie of the Year.

This is Whetham’s second time receiving all-conference honors, as he earned a spot on the second team as a first-year student in 2004. In 2006, he is leading Elizabethtown in batting average (.373) and hits (50) while playing in and starting 37 of the Blue Jays’ 40 games. He has scored 24 runs and driven in 27 more this season while totaling five doubles and three triples. He has a slugging percentage of .455 and an on-base percentage of .440, and he has 10 walks, six times hit by a pitch and two stolen bases. In his career, Whetham is batting .332 through three seasons with 66 runs, 78 RBI, 134 hits, 22 doubles, four triples and two home runs.

Sheibley is currently hitting .329 in his rookie season and leads the team in runs with 43, walks with 27 and triples with 12, an Elizabethtown single season record. He is also one triple shy of the NCAA Division III single season record. He has 48 hits, four doubles, one home run and 14 stolen bases in 2006. That one home run was a grand slam in Etown’s 9-5 conference championship game win over Juniata May 6. He also leads Etown in slugging percentage with .541, and he has an on-base percentage of .432.

Kalejta is making his second consecutive appearance on the All-Commonwealth Conference second team in 2006. This year, he is batting .348 (49-for-141) with 42 runs scored and 25 RBI. He leads the team in doubles with 12, in walks with 19 and in times hit by a pitch with eight, and he has two triples, one home run and two stolen bases. His on-base percentage of .442 leads the team, and he has a .482 slugging percentage. In his career, Kalejta is batting .295 with 123 runs, 73 RBI, 160 hits, 32 doubles, three triples, three home runs, 21 stolen bases, 85 walks and 17 times hit by a pitch through four seasons. He has a career on-base percentage of .402. He currently ranks in a tie for fourth place at Etown for most career runs scored, and he is five runs away from tying the program career record of 128. He also ranks sixth in career hits and fifth in career doubles at Elizabethtown.

Donahue is making his first all-conference team appearance this year. Despite normally hitting in the number two spot in the lineup, he leads Elizabethtown in runs batted in with 30. He also leads Etown in stolen bases with 19, and he is batting .336 with 29 runs scored, two doubles, three triples, one home run, 11 walks and a team-high total of nine sacrifice bunts. Through three seasons, he his batting .308 with 91 hits, 69 runs, 44 RBI, 31 stolen bases, 20 sacrifices, 34 walks, four doubles, five triples and one home run.

Hoffman is also making his first appearance on the All-Commonwealth Conference Second Team this year, and he leads Etown in wins with seven, in innings with 80-1/3 and in complete games with five. He has a 3.92 ERA and a 7-2 record in 13 appearances and 11 starts, and he has one complete game shutout with 48 strikeouts and 18 walks. He was the Most Valuable Player of the Commonwealth Conference playoffs after pitching 13-2/3 innings and earning two wins in two days May 5 and 6. In three seasons, Hoffman has a career record of 10-7 win 29 appearances, 22 starts and 133 innings. He has 68 career strikeouts and 40 walks.

Beard makes his first all-conference appearance this year as a senior. He has a 5-6 record with a 3.48 ERA in 14 appearances and 13 starts in 2006, and he leads the Blue Jays in strikeouts with 71 in 75 innings pitched. He has four complete games this year. In his three-year career for Etown, he has a 9-10 record with a 4.04 ERA, six complete games and 147 strikeouts in 149-1/3 innings. He is tied for ninth place all-time at Elizabethtown in most career strikeouts.

Woehnker appears on the All-Commonwealth Conference Second Team for the second time in his career in 2006 after also making the team as a first-year student in 2003. With the exception of one start this year, he has strictly been a relief pitcher his entire career. In 17 appearances in 2006, he leads the Blue Jays in saves with three while posting a 2-2 record and a 4.78 ERA in 26-1/3 innings. He has 19 strikeouts and nine walks this season. In his four-year career, he ranks second all-time at Etown in appearances (63) and saves (9), and he has a 9-6 record with 51 strikeouts and 27 walks in 93-1/3 innings.

The Elizabethtown College baseball team is currently 25-14-1 overall in 2006, and Etown went 13-8 against regular season Commonwealth Conference competition. The Blue Jays won the Commonwealth Conference championship May 6 and, with it, clinched an automatic bid for the regionals of the NCAA Division III tournament. Elizabethtown will play next in an NCAA regional tournament at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute, Ind. beginning Wednesday, May 17. Etown will face Otterbein College at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday.