University of Richmond Athletics
Four Spiders Earn Atlantic 10 Accolades
05/24/2016 | Baseball
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Both the arms and bats of the University of Richmond baseball team were honored on Tuesday as the Atlantic 10 announced its yearly awards.
Four Spiders were honored with Michael Morman and Kurtis Brown both earning First Team accolades, while hurlers Matt Olson and Caleb Ward were named to the All-Rookie squad. Morman also was recognized as part of the All-Academic team.
“I'm proud of these guys and the effort they put forth this spring. I really think we had a bunch of different guys step up in different spots throughout the season and I think the awards show that to an extent,” Head Coach Tracy Woodson said. “With three of the four coming back next year, we're certainly excited about the future and getting back to work.”
Morman earned his second straight First Team Atlantic 10 honor and third straight first team accolade dating back to his sophomore year at Valparaiso. This season, the Rockford, Ill. native ranked second in the league in hitting with a .369 average, second in doubles (20) and third in RBIs (48). In two years at Richmond, Morman hit .380 with 45 doubles, 11 home runs and 104 RBIs, he led the Atlantic 10 in three of those categories over the past two seasons.
In the classroom, Morman graduated with a grade point average of 3.54, earning his Master's in Human Resource Management earlier this month. His inclusion on the All-Academic team marks the first time a Spider has earned the recognition since 2009.
Brown had a breakout year for the Spiders, ranking in the top-10 in the league in hitting with .342 with 17 doubles, three home runs and 35 RBIs, while scoring 27 runs. He improved his batting average by nearly 100 points, one of the top jumps in the entire country.
On the mound, Olson and Ward were outstanding for the Spiders. With over 300 innings departed from 2015, Richmond needed its youngsters to step up and that's exactly what the duo did.
Olson, who pitched out of the starting and relieving roles, was 4-2 in 19 appearances. He racked up 60.1 innings of work with an ERA of 2.54, while racking up 34 strikeouts and allowing just 55 hits.
Ward appeared in a team-high 20 games, all out of the pen, posting a 2-1 record and piling up four saves, the second-most on the team. He tossed 27 innings, racking up 25 strikeouts over that stretch.
