Bowling Green State University Athletics
Baseball's Ryan Shay Garners First Team NCAA Mideast Region Honors
June 17, 2008 | Baseball
June 17, 2008
ATHENS, Ohio - Bowling Green State University junior shortstop Ryan Shay has been named to the 2008 American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings NCAA Mideast Region First Team, as announced by the ABCA and Ohio University baseball coach Joe Carbone on Tuesday (Jun. 17). Shay, a First Team All-Mid-American Conference selection this season, was the lone MAC selection on the 13-member First Team and just 1-of-6 of the total 26 selections for the two squads.
The All-Mideast Region Teams and its' 26 total selections, were voted on by all the region's head coaches and Carbone, as the chairman, tallied the votes, that created the two teams.
Shay, a 6-foot-1-inch right-hander from Garden City, Mich., set a new BGSU single-season school record in 2008 with a .412 batting average, as he also set a Falcon single-season record with 87 hits and tied the single-season school mark for doubles with 19. He led the team with 31 multiple-hit games, which included nine games with three or more hits, while he also tallied nine total multiple-RBI performances. He was the lone Falcon to play in all 52 games as he started in 48 with 41 coming at shortstop and seven coming at third base.
In total, Shay finished his season hitting safely in 46 of his team's 52 games, as he totaled 36 RBI, five homers and 121 total bases. He also led BG with 53 runs scored, 15 stolen bases and had a team-best on-base percentage of .481.
In MAC play, the junior hit .364 as he had 36 hits and drove in 20 runs on way to helping the Falcons to their first MAC Regular-Season Championship in six seasons.
During a stretch of play from Apr. 12th to May 9th, Shay set a new career-best with a hit streak of 17-straight games, just one game after ending a hit-streak of 16 games, that tied his old career mark set during the 2007 campaign.
In the field, the shortstop collected 69 total putouts and 146 assists, moving him into fifth-place on the all-time BGSU career assists list.
Shay and the Falcons finished their 2008 season with a final record of 32-20 and MAC mark of 16-8, tying Kent State for the Co-Regular-Season Championship. Their nine-game improvement in conference play tied for the fourth-best conference improvement in the nation and was just two games back of national-leader Missouri State, who had an 11-game conference win improvement.
The Big Ten was represented by 13 players across the All-Mideast Region First and Second Teams while the MAC had six selections. There were four representatives from the Big East, two from Conference-USA and one from the Horizon League.
How Shay Ranks In The Nation This Season (As of June 9th)
Batting Average: 21st - .412
Runs Per Game: 162nd - 1.02
Runs: 270th - 53
Hits: 99th - 87
Doubles Per Game: 82nd - 0.37
Doubles: 117th - 19
Slugging Percentage: 294th - .573
Total Bases: 284th - 121
On Base Percentage: 78th - .481
Stolen Bases: 231st - 15
Balls on Base: 450th - 28
Toughest To Strike Out: 163rd - 10.6
2008 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Mideast Region Teams
First Team:
Pitcher - Chris Fetter/Michigan
Pitcher - Zach Putnam/Michigan
Pitcher - Dan Osterbrock/Cincinnati**
Reliever - Josh Lindblom/Purdue
Catcher - Josh Phegley/Indiana
First Base - Nate Recknagel/Michigan
Second Base - Josh Harrison/Cincinnati**
Third Base - Mike Spina/Cincinnati
Shortstop - Ryan Shay/Bowling Green
Outfield - Kyle Hudson/Illinois
Outfield - Caleb Curry/Iowa
Outfield - Nate Lape/Marshall
Designated Hitter - Daniel Webb/Illinois
** Also selected to the 2007 ABCA/Rawlings All-Mideast Region Teams
Second Team:
Pitcher - Chris Carpenter/Kent State
Pitcher - Kyle Smith/Kent State
Pitcher - Matt Bashore/Indiana
Reliever - Drew O'Neil/Penn State
Catcher - Joe Blackburn/Penn State
First Base - Greg Rohan/Kent State
Second Base - Doug Sanders/Kent State
Third Base - Dan Black/Purdue
Shortstop - Justin Toole/Iowa
Outfield - Matt Stiffler/Ohio
Outfield - Zach Rodeghero/Valparaiso
Outfield - Cameron Satterwhite/Cincinnati
Designated Hitter - Victor Gomez/Marshall
** Also selected to the 2007 ABCA/Rawlings All-Mideast Region Teams
Complete ABCA/Rawlings Release
ATHENS, Ohio - The American Baseball Coaches Association and Ohio head coach Joe Carbone, chairman of the NCAA Mideast Region All-American Committee, have announced the 2008 ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Mideast Region First and Second Teams.
The Big Ten was represented by 13 players across the All-Mideast Region First and Second Teams while the Mid-American Conference had six selections. There were four representatives from the Big East, two from Conference-USA and one from the Horizon League.
Five of the players named to All-Mideast Region First-Team were also selected to ABCA/Rawlings All-American Teams. Chris Fetter and fellow Michigan Wolverine Zach Putnam were named to the second-team along with Indiana's Josh Phegley. Named to the third-team were Michigan's Nate Recknagel and Illinois' Kyle Hudson. Florida State junior catcher Buster Posey took home ABCA/Rawlings Player of the Year Honors.
Michigan and Cincinnati each had three first-team Mideast Region selections. Putnam, along with Cincinnati's Josh Harrison and Dan Osterbrock were the only repeat selections from last year's Mideast Region Team. Osterbrock was handed his second straight first-team selection while Harrison jumped from a second-team third baseman last year to be named the first-team second baseman this season. Putnam was named to the Mideast All-Region First-Team in 2007 as a designated hitter and made it back this season as a starting pitcher. Illinois earned two first-team bids with Hudson, also a wide receiver on the Fighting Illini football team, and DH Daniel Webb being honored.
Kent State led all MAC schools with four selections, all on the second-team, and Ohio's Matt Stiffler and Bowling Green's Ryan Shay rounded out the league's six selections. Shay was the lone first-team member amongst the MAC selections.
The All-Mideast Region Teams are voted on by all the region's head coaches and Carbone, as the chairman, tallies the votes and creates the two teams.
"Speaking on behalf of the selection committee, I feel that this year's Mideast Region players are very deserving of this recognition," Carbone said. "They head a long list of impressive players and represent a lot of very good teams from around the region."
Among the 26 players named to the Mideast Region First & Second Teams, five were named either their conference's player or pitcher of the year. Recknagel and Putnam took home player and pitcher of the year honors in the Big Ten, respectively, while Greg Rohan and Chris Carpenter took home the same awards in the Mid-American Conference. Harrison was named co-Big East Player of the Year, the first time a Bearcat has achieved that honor.
After receiving two of the inaugural ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Awards last season, the Mideast Region is represented on this year's list by Northern Illinois pitcher Adam Holdenrid, who did not make an error while starting 13 games this season.
The All-American teams are selected by a committee made up of each region's chairman. Monmouth head coach Dean Ehehalt represented the East Region while also chairing the committee and was joined by Oregon head coach George Horton (West), Middle Tennessee State head coach Steve Peterson (South Central), Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin (South), UMass head coach Mike Stone (Northeast), Northern Iowa head coach Rick Heller (Midwest), Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor (Atlantic) and Carbone (Mideast) in Omaha, Neb., last week before the start of the 2008 NCAA Men's College World Series.
