Two Earn All-Conference Honors

May 1, 2009

RICHARDSON, Texas - Two players on Southwestern Oklahoma State University's baseball team were among those voted by the league's head coaches as the best at their position. Pitcher Aldemar Betrian and third baseman Ricky Kirby were each selected to the second-team all-conference squad in an announcement released by the league office.

One other Bulldog, first baseman Travis Rose, was selected to the honorable mention squad.

All total 60 baseball standouts were selected. Those recognized included six first-team choices for Abilene Christian, while LSC regular season champion Cameron had five first-teamers.

ACU's Jordan Schmitt and CU's Nate Arevalo shared Player of the Year honors, while the Aggies Brad Bichel claimed Pitcher of the Year acclaim.  Angelo State 's Craig Blair was named Freshman of the Year, while CU's Todd Holland was tabbed Coach of the Year.

ASU and ACU both had eight total picks with four first-team picks and four second-teams for the Rams and six and two for the Wildcats, respectively.  CU had five first-team and two second-team picks for seven total.

Betrian, a freshman right hander from Santa Cruz, Aruba, was the Bulldogs top pitcher this year. He went 5-3 with a 3.83 ERA in a role as both a starter and a reliever. Betrian struck out 54 batters in 47.0 innings and limited opponents to a .240 batting average against him. He pitched back-to-back complete-game shutouts in wins over Eastern New Mexico and Southeastern Oklahoma.

Kirby, a junior from Mustang, led SWOSU in hitting this year and ranked third in the conference with a .413 average. Kirby hit successfully in 11 straight games during the year and finished among the team leaders in home runs (five) and RBIs (48).

Rose, a junior from Fort Worth, Texas, hit .365 this year and set school records for most home runs (18), RBIs (68) and total bases (149).