Soper, New, Dobbs named to All-OVC squad
Tennessee Tech's Steve Soper, Jake New and Jared Dobbs have been named to the all-Ohio Valley Conference baseball team, which was announced Tuesday by the OVC as voted by the league's head baseball coaches and sports information directors. The awards were handed out Tuesday night at the annual OVC Awards Banquet on the eve of the 2007 O'Reilly OVC Baseball Tournament to be held at Brooks Stadium in Paducah.
PADUCAH, Ky. - Tennessee Tech's Steve Soper, Jake New and Jared Dobbs have been named to the all-Ohio Valley Conference baseball team, which was announced Tuesday by the OVC as voted by the league's head baseball coaches and sports information directors. The awards were handed out Tuesday night at the annual OVC Awards Banquet on the eve of the 2007 O'Reilly OVC Baseball Tournament to be held at Brooks Stadium in Paducah.
Soper, a native of Baton Rouge, La., and a first-time
all-conference selection, was one of 13 players tabbed to the
all-OVC first team. The senior catcher led the Golden Eagles in
batting with a .373 mark on the season, including 75 hits, 41 runs,
18 doubles, 10 home runs and 59 RBI. Soper concluded the
regular-season tied for sixth in the league in multiple-hit games
(23) and tied for second in multiple-RBI games (15).
Soper closed out his collegiate career ranked 43rd in the nation
in RBI with 1.14 per game and 78th nationally in slugging
percentage (.635), as well as being ranked in seven major batting
categories in the conference: fourth in batting (.373), sixth in
hits (75), tied for second in home runs (10), tied for first in
doubles (18), second in RBI (59), first in total bases (125) and
second in slugging percentage (.622).
New, a junior out of Perry, Ohio, received his first all-conference nod being named as one of 13 players to the second team. The 6-foot outfielder ended the 2007 season fourth on the Tech squad, batting .310 with 62 hits, 36 runs, 15 doubles, five home runs and 38 RBI. New also closed out the season tied for fourth in the league in triples (4), tied for fifth in doubles (15) and 10th in slugging percentage (.500).
Dobbs, a right handed pitcher from Soddy-Daisy, Tenn., was the
sole OVC pitcher to earn all-freshman team recognition. Dobbs led
the Tennessee Tech squad, having the lowest ERA (3.85) on the
staff. Dobbs was also second on the squad in wins (4), third in
appearances (17) and third in innings pitched (58.1).
Jacksonville State University junior outfielder Clay Whittemore
was named the OVC Player of the Year, Austin Peay State University
senior hurler Shawn Kelley was tabbed as the OVC Pitcher of the
Year, Southeast Missouri State University catcher Jim Klocke earned
OVC Rookie of the Year honors and Austin Peay head coach Gary
McClure was named OVC Coach of the Year.
