MEYERS NAMED CAA COACH OF THE YEAR
Old Dominion University head baseball coach Jerry Meyers has been named Colonial Athletic Association's Coach of the Year, as selected by the league coaches. Senior relief pitcher Danna Arrowood was selected to the All-CAA first team as a closer. Four Monarchs earned second team honors in catcher Patrick Nichols, outfielder Mike Zahm, outfielder Jimmy Miles and pitcher Jason Godin, while freshman pitcher Dan Hudson was selected to the CAA's All-Rookie squad.
Meyers in his second year guided the Monarchs to a 39-15 overall record and 21-9 CAA mark and the league?s second seed after finishing last a year ago. ODU appeared in the nation?s top 25 from March 27 to April 15th, and ranked as high as 15th nationally by BASEBALL AMERICA on April 3rd. ODU has the lowest ERA in the league at 3.78 with a league best six shutouts and a single season school record of 496 strikeouts in 493 innings.
Dana Arrowood has been the Monarchs all-purpose player. He has been the ace out of the bullpen, the designated hitter and rightfielder. Arrowood earned first team honors as a reliever with a 6-2 record, a 2.33 earned run average and is currently tied for second in the CAA with seven saves. Arrowood fanned a career high 12 batters in 9.2 innings of relief in ODU?s 18 inning win at Towson. He also fanned eight batters in 3.2 innings in a win over UNC Wilmington. Arrowood is hitting .347 with seven homers and a team leading 51 RBI.
Patrick Nichols earned second team All-CAA catching honors with a .305 batting average with 45 RBI and 17 home runs, which rank fourth in the league. Nichols also tied the Bud Metheny single season homerun record with ten, joining Nick Boothe ('85) and Ron Walker ('97). Leftfielder Mike Zahm is hitting .332 with six homers and 42 RBI and ranks fifth in the CAA with five triples. Centerfielder Jimmy Miles is tied for the league lead in steals with UNCW's John Raynor at 39. Miles leads ODU with a .349 batting average and 52 runs scored.
On the the mound, junior righthander Jason Godin is 8-2 with a 4.26 ERA. He leads the CAA In strikeouts with 141 which is ten shy of the ODU and CAA single season mark set by Justin Verlander ('04). Godin has five complete games and two shutouts and was twice named National Player of the Week after his 17 strikeout performance against Navy and ODU record 18 strikeout performance against Northeastern.
Freshman Dan Hudson ranks eighth in the CAA in ERA at 3.28. He compiled a 7-3 record with one complete game and one shutout. He has 79 strikeouts in 93.1 innings of work. ODU opens the CAA tournament Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against host UNC Wilmington.