Atlantic 10 Announces Baseball All-Conference Teams

Dan Rhault of Rhode Island Named Player of the Year and George Washington's Pat Lehman Tabbed Pitcher of the Year; Cameron Hobson of Dayton Earns Rookie of the Year Accolades

2009 Baseball All-Conference Teams

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Senior shortstop Dan Rhault of Rhode Island has been named the Atlantic 10 Baseball Player of the Year in voting conducted among the league's head coaches.

Pat Lehman, a senior righthander from George Washington, earned Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Year honors and freshman pitcher Cameron Hobson of Dayton was named Rookie of the Year. In that same vote, Dayton's Tony Vittorio was tabbed Coach of the Year.

Additionally, Saint Louis senior shortstop Ryan Bennett was named Student-Athlete of the Year in voting among the Conference's sports information directors.

Rhault leads the second-seeded Rams in eight different offensive categories, including batting average (.393), runs batted in (57), slugging percentage (.667), on-base percentage (..466) and multi-hit games (23). Hailing from Lincoln, R.I., he is a member of the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, which honors the nation's top shortstop. He boasts three grand slams on the year and needs just three more RBIs to set a program record for single-season RBIs.

Lehman (7-4) is the A-10 leader in earned run average (2.40), strikeouts (89) and innings pitched (105). The senior righthander held opposing hitters to a .235 average and finished with seven wins, with both marks ranking second in the Conference. A native of Fairlawn, N.J., Lehman was a two-time A-10 Pitcher of the Week selection and threw six complete games on the year, including five in league play.

Joining Rhault and Lehman on the All-Conference first-team are Rob Lyerly of Charlotte; George Washington's Sean Rockey; Jimmy Roesinger, Jacob Spaeth and Scott Dunwoody from Dayton; Tempe's Sean Barksdale; Mike Donato and Jim Macdonald of Massachusetts; Eric Smith from Rhode Island; and Xavier's Jordan Conley. Lyerly is making his second straight appearance on the All-Conference first-team, while Conley was a second-team honoree last season. Conley also earned second-team All-Conference accolades this season as a shortstop.

Hobson has enjoyed an impressive rookie campaign for Dayton. The lefthander from Crawfordsville, Ind., is a perfect 5-0 in Atlantic 10 play and 6-1 overall. In Conference action, he led the league in strikeouts (61) and was second in earned run average (2.45), while holding A-10 opponents to a .240 batting average. He boasts the second-highest single-season strikeout total in Dayton history with 78 strikeouts and is just four away from matching the program record.

In addition to Hobson, the second-team consists of teammate Max Navalinski; Ben Thomas, Conley and Adam Pasono of Xavier; Rhode Island's Oliver Palmer and Luke Demko; Danny Leach of Fordham; and Charlotte's Justin Wilson, Zane Williams, Ryan Rivers and Joe Yermal.

The All-Rookie team includes Hobson; Rhode Island's Milan Adams and Mike LeBel; Tom Conley from Massachusetts; Duquesne's Ricky Devereaux; Richmond's Adam McConnell; Zach Miller from Saint Louis; Tony Negrin of La Salle; and St. Bonaventure's Ryan Skellie.

Bennett earns Student-Athlete of the Year honors after leading Saint Louis batting (.368 ), hits (77), doubles (16 ) and stolen bases (19 ). Named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, which honors the nation's top shortstop, the Kansas City, Mo., native enjoyed a career-best 17-game hitting streak this season.

In the classroom, Bennett achieved a 3.95 grade point average while earning his degree in Business Administration Entrepreneurship and is pursuing his Masters of Business Administration. He was recently named a CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District first-team selection.

Bennett is joined on the Academic All-Conference Team by Charlotte teammates Rob Lyerly and Ryan Rivers; Scott Dunwoody and Quinn Haselhorst of Dayton; Richmond's Brian Alas; Bobby DiNardo of Fordham; Massachusetts' Mitchell Eilenberg; Billy O'Conner of Xavier; and Rhode Island's Oliver Palmer.

Vittorio earns Coach of the Year honors after guiding Dayton to a program-best 37 wins and the top seed in this week's Atlantic 10 Championship (May 20-23).

The Flyers (21-6) are just the second team in A-10 history to win more than 20 Conference games after Charlotte won 23 games in 2007. Under Vittorio's direction, UD leads the league in batting (.342), slugging percentage (.540), hits (630) and home runs (76). A 1988 graduate of Hanover (Ind.), Vittorio holds a career record of 286-265 in 10 years at Dayton.