Valley League Selects Award Winners! 7/25/01| News

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Valley League Selects Award Winners! 7/25/01| News | Valley League Baseball

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Valley League Selects Award Winners! 7/25/01

HARRISONBURG, Va. (7/25/01) - Winchester shortstop Wes Timmons (Appalachian State) was voted the Most Valuable Player and Covington's Joe McNamee the Coach of the Year as the Valley Baseball League announced its awards for the 2001 season. Timmons was selected in a vote conducted among the eight franchises. The coach of the year award and All-Valley League team was chosen in a vote among members of the media who covered the season.

Timmons won the league's batting title with a .387 average during the regular season. He ranked first in the league in hits (58) and doubles (14), third in slugging percentage (.567), fourth in on-base percentage (.451), third in runs scored (37), and fourth in RBIs (30). He helped lead the Royals to the best record in the league at 28-12 and to the Northern Division pennant. Timmons is currently riding a 27-game hitting streak. McNamee guided the expansion-franchise Lumberjacks to the Southern Division pennant with a record of 23-17. His club leads the best-of-five semifinals against the defending Jim Lineweaver Cup Champion Harrisonburg Turks two games to none.

The league's earn-run-average title went to Chris Kees, an All-Valley League selection from Winchester. A rising senior at Division III Shenandoah University in Winchester, Kees posted a regular-season ERA of 1.14 in 71 1/3 innings this summer. Including his 7-1 win against Front Royal in the playoff-opener Monday, Kees has gone the distance eight times in his nine starts. Through the regular season he struck out 52 and walked just eight.

The MVP vote gave each franchise one ballot to rank its top eight choices. Teams were limited to one selection from among their own players. A total of 21 players received votes. Timmons collected three first-place votes and was the only player to appear on every ballot. Chris Wright was second in the balloting, followed by Joe Honce and Kyle Geswein. Kennard Bibbs, Jemel Spearman and Bubby Buzachero were tied for fifth.

2001 All-Valley League Team

First Base - Drew Miller, Luray/Troy State
Second Base - Joe Honce, Covington/W. Va. Wesleyan
Third Base - Chris Wright, Winchester/Penn State
Shortstop - Wes Timmons, Winchester/Appalachian State
Catcher - Lance Newman, Covington/Troy State
Outfield - John Gragg, Winchester/Arkansas-Little Rock
Outfield - Kennard Bibbs, Harrisonburg/Oklahoma City
Outfield - David Stone, Staunton/Virginia
Outfield - Gary Harris, Covington/Georgia College
Utility - Blake Gill, Front Royal/Louisiana State
Utility - Jemel Spearman, Front Royal/Georgia Southern
DH - Wade Miller, Luray/Troy State
DH - Kyle Geswein, Stauton/Michigan State
Reliever - Klint Rommel, Covington/Austin Peay
Reliever - Ryan Molchan, Winchester/Rutgers
Starter -Bubby Buzachero, Staunton/Tennessee Tech
Starter - Chris Kees, Winchester/Shenandoah
Starter - Blair Hayden, Covington/Lynchburg
Starter - Justin DiLucchio, Front Royal/Duke
Coach of the Year: Joe McNamee, Covington