FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
S-133-06-07
Thursday, May 10, 2007

Six Elizabethtown College Baseball Players Named to All-Commonwealth Conference Teams; Tyler Hoffman Named Conference Pitcher of the Year; Jared Auman Named Co-Player of the Year

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Six members of the Elizabethtown College baseball team have been named to the 2007 All-Commonwealth Conference teams. Additionally, Etown senior pitcher Tyler Hoffman (Phoenix, MD/Loyola Blakefield) has been named the conference’s Pitcher of the Year, while Etown junior catcher Jared Auman (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy) has been named the Commonwealth Co-Player of the Year. Earing spots on the All-Commonwealth Conference First Team from Etown were Hoffman, Auman, senior third baseman Dean Whetham (Wilmington, DE/Brandywine) and junior outfielder Brandon Watson (Philadelphia, PA/Central). Earning spots on the All-Commonwealth Conference Second Team were senior second baseman Ryan White (Lebanon, PA/Cedar Crest) and sophomore pitcher Sam Heaps (Landenberg, PA/Avon Grove).

So far in 2007, Hoffman has a 7-2 win-loss record and a team-best 2.50 earned run average in 11 appearances, all of them starts. He has tossed five complete games and one shutout in 2007. In a team-leading total of 79-1/3 innings pitched, he has allowed 77 hits, 21 walks, 35 runs and 22 earned runs while striking out 40 batters, and he has held opposing hitters to a .252 batting average. He was also the Most Valuable Player of the Commonwealth Conference playoffs last weekend.

In his four-year career with Elizabethtown, Hoffman has a 17-9 win-loss record and a 4.11 ERA. His 221 career innings pitched rank fifth all-time at Elizabethtown, and his 17 wins rank in a tie for eighth. He has made 41 career appearances, ranking 12th at Etown, and 34 of them were starts with 11 complete games and two shutouts. He has 110 career strikeouts with just 61 walks. In 2006, he was an All-Commonwealth Conference Second Team member and an American Baseball Coaches’ Association (ABCA) All-Mid-Atlantic Region Third Team member.

Thus far this season, Auman is batting .416 to lead Elizabethtown, and he leads the Blue Jays in hits (57), doubles (10), runs batted in (27), slugging percentage (.540) and on-base percentage (.481). He is also tied for the team lead in triples (2) and home runs (1), and he is second on the team in walks (18) and sacrifice flies (3) and third on the team in runs scored (22).

This is Auman’s first time on the All-Commonwealth Conference teams. In his three-year career with Elizabethtown, he is batting .364 in 79 games with 95 hits, 22 doubles, four triples, two home runs, 43 runs scored and 51 RBI.

Whetham has been on the all-conference teams twice before, having made the first team as well last year and the second team as a rookie in 2004. This season, he is batting .310 with 39 hits, eight doubles, two triples, 26 runs scored and 17 RBI in 36 games. He has a .417 on-base percentage with 14 walks and a team-high total of 10 times hit by pitch.

In his career, Whetham is hitting .327 with 176 hits, 94 runs, 96 RBI, 30 doubles, six triples and three home runs in 149 games played. He ranks third all-time at Elizabethtown in career hits, eighth in doubles, eighth in runs batted in and fourth in games played.

Watson has earned all-conference recognition for the first time this year. Thus far in 2007, he is batting .356 with 47 hits, nine doubles, two triples, 22 runs scored and 14 RBI in 38 games played. He has also drawn 15 walks and been hit by a pitch three times for a .433 on-base percentage.

In his three-year career, Watson is hitting .334 with 102 hits, 16 doubles, three triples, 46 runs scored and 41 runs batted in.

This is also White’s first year on the All-Commonwealth Conference teams. So far this year, he is batting .331 with 48 hits, one triple, 30 runs scored, 16 runs batted in, and a team-leading total of 14 stolen bases. He has also drawn 19 walks and been hit by a pitch three times for an on-base percentage of .419. He leads the team in runs scored, walks and stolen bases, and he is second on the team in hits.

In his four-year career, White has a .297 batting average with 108 hits, 71 runs scored, 11 doubles, five triples, 43 runs batted in, 41 walks and 27 stolen bases.

Heaps has earned a spot on the all-conference teams for the first time this year. Thus far this season he has made 10 appearances, all of them starts, on the mound and has totaled four complete games and a team-leading total of two shutouts. He has a 7-3 win-loss record with a 2.93 ERA in 61-1/3 innings pitched, and he has spread 55 hits, 25 runs, 20 earned runs, 16 walks and 41 strikeouts over that span. Opposing batters are hitting just .237 against him. Earlier this season, Heaps was named the national Pitcher of the Week for NCAA Division III by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers’ Association after pitching a no-hitter against Juniata College April 14.

In his two-year career, Heaps has an 11-6 win-loss record with a 3.38 ERA. He has totaled 117-1/3 innings pitched in two seasons with 94 career strikeouts and just 36 walks.

The Elizabethtown College baseball team is currently 22-16 overall and is heading to the regionals of the NCAA Division III tournament, which will run from May 16-20 at sites to be determined, for the second year in a row. It will be Elizabethtown’s ninth all-time NCAA tournament appearance.