University of Massachusets Athletics
2011 UMass Baseball Team Awards Announced
September 27, 2011 | Baseball
Sept. 27, 2011
AMHERST, Mass. - UMass baseball head coach Mike Stone recently announced the program's 2011 team award winners with honors going to Matt Gedman, Peter Copa, Ben Hart and Dennis Torres. Gedman and Copa were tabbed the squad's E. Joseph Thompson Most Valuable Players, while Hart and Torres shared the Coaches Award for most improved.
Gedman finished his career with the Minutemen leading the A-10 with a .402 batting average this past spring, becoming just the second UMass player to win the league batting title. He was selected by the Boston Red Sox in the 45th round of the Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft this past June after racking up a list of 2011 postseason accolades. Gedman was named the 2011 NCBWA District I Player of the Year, a first team All-Star by the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA), a second team ECAC Division I All-Star and was also selected to the Atlantic 10 Baseball All-Conference First Team at the conclusion of his senior season.
Gedman played and started 45 of UMass' 47 games in 2011 and posted the second-highest hits total in school history for a single season, going 76-for-189 at the plate, while ranking fifth all-time in single season batting average. He paced the Minutemen with 43 runs scored and recorded 32 RBI, 11 doubles, three triples and five home runs. The lefty boasted a team-best 108 total bases, contributing to a .571 slugging percentage and logged a .440 on base percentage, as well. In 2011, Gedman ranked 16th nationally for batting average and was among the top-40 hitters toughest to strike out, fanning only 13 times in 189 at bats this spring.
Copa, who signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim this summer, finished his time at UMass with the finest season of his collegiate career. He hit a career-best .351 (42-for-151) in 2011, good for second on the squad, while leading the Minutemen in home runs (11) and RBI (42), both career highs, as well. The first baseman was second on the team with 42 runs scored and paced UMass in stolen bases (14-for-16) and walks and played in the NEIBA All-Star Game.
Copa led the Atlantic 10 in both slugging percentage (.649) and on base percentage (.484) this year. His on base percentage also landed him in the UMass record books as the eighth highest on the school's single season list. In addition to his 11 homers, which tied him for ninth all-time in program history for a single season, Copa registered 10 doubles and one triple in 2011.
Hart emerged as a starting pitcher midway through the 2011 campaign and earned a spot in the Minutemen's weekend rotation for the latter part of the season. In two of his finer outings, Hart tossed a complete game vs. Quinnipiac on May 3 and fanned a career-high six batters against Northeastern in the Beanpot Consolation Game.
He surpassed his 2010 total of innings pitched (21.1) in his six starts alone in 2011 (39.0) and finished the year 3-2 as a starter with a 3.92 earned run average. Overall Hart was 3-3 with a 5.33 ERA in 49 innings pitched with 22 walks and 26 strikeouts.
In his first year of collegiate action, Torres made 12 appearances on the mound for UMass, including eight starts. In his first career win, vs. UMBC, Torres tossed five shutout innings and allowed just two hits. He logged 31 strikeouts to 21 walks on the year, including a season-best six at Hartford. Torres finished 2011 at 2-4 with a 7.04 ERA in 46.0 innings pitched.