Owens ABCA Northeast Coach of the Year for second-straight season

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – After leading the Bryant University baseball team to its second-straight 40-win season, its second-straight Northeast Conference championship and its second-straight NCAA tournament, head coach Steve Owens has been named the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Northeast Coach of the Year.

Like his team's accomplishments, it is the second-straight year that Owens has been honored with the award and the seventh time in his career. In 2014, the Bulldogs finished 42-16 and were a No. 3 seed in the LSU regional in Baton Rouge, La. Owens was also named the NEC Coach of the Year for the third-straight season.

In just four short years, Owens has taken the Black and Gold to another level in the not only the NEC but the entire Northeast. This past season he guided one of the most dynamic teams in the country. The Bulldogs finished the year in the top-25 nationally in batting average (.302, 14), doubles (115, 22), doubles per game (1.98, 20), ERA (2.84, 21), hits allowed per nine innings (7.41, 13), home runs (39, 23), home runs per game (0.67), OBP (.391, 13), runs (386, 19), scoring (6.7, 15), shutouts (12, 7), slugging percentage (.436, 9), stolen bases (99, 7), stolen bases per game (1.71, 13) and WHIP (1.17, 15).

Coach Owens's fourth season also saw several individual accolades as Craig Schlitter (Guilford, Conn.) was named the NEC Pitcher of the Year and Matt Albanese (East Haddam, Conn.) was named the NEC Rookie of the Year. Eleven players were named All-New England by the NEIBA, Schlitter was named a Third Team ABCA All-American and four others were All-Northeast selections.

A week after the season concluded, five Bulldogs would sign Major League Baseball contracts. Kevin McAvoy (Syracuse, N.Y.) was taken in the fourth round by the Boston Red Sox, Carl Anderson (Sudbury, Mass.) and Tom Gavitt (North Stonington, Conn.) were taken back-to-back in the 19th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates and Oakland Athletics, and Schlitter was a 27th-round selection of the Colorado Rockies. Vaughn Hayward (Glendale, R.I.) signed a week later with the Los Angeles Dodgers giving the Bulldogs eight pro players in the last two seasons.