LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - Jeff Messer was named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Coach of the Year, Ethan Edkins earned Freshman of the Year honors and the Slippery Rock University baseball team landed six student-athletes on the All-PSAC West Team, the league office announced Friday with the unveiling of its annual year-end awards.
 
Joining Messer and Edkins as award winners were first team All-PSAC West choices starting pitcher Devin Dunn, catcher Connor Hamilton, outfielder Alex Robenolt and designated hitter Eddie Morris as well as second team all-league selections starting pitcher Ricky Mineo and utility player Luke Trueman.

Friday's announcement marks the second time that Hamilton, Mineo and Robenolt have earned All-PSAC West accolades while Dunn, Trueman and Morris are all first time honorees.  

Messer earned his seventh PSAC Coach of the Year award after guiding Slippery Rock to a 32-14 record in the regular season while being ranked among Division II's best in every major national poll. Slippery Rock also added a victory in the PSAC Tournament, giving The Rock 33 wins, the program's most since going 36-15 in 2009 and its 19th 30-win year since Messer came to SRU in 1986.  
 
Messer, the winningest coach in PSAC history, has won 1,072 games over a historic 37-year career. He currently ranks 12th in Division II history for wins by a head coach in addition to being fourth among active D2 coaches in career wins.

Edkins, the seventh Slippery Rock player to be named the PSAC West Freshman of the Year and the first since Abraham Mow in 2018, had a special season on the mound as a rookie. He started eight games, going 6-1 with 35 strikeouts, a .206 opponent batting average and a 3.16 ERA over 37 innings pitched.
 
After beginning the year as a mid-week starter, the Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania native worked his way into The Rock's weekend rotation where he picked up wins against Gannon, Seton Hill, Clarion and Mercyhurst. Highlights of the year for Edkins included one-run, complete-game efforts in victories over the SHU and MU.

One of the most feared hitters in the league, Hamilton has started all 49 games for SRU this season, hitting .403 with 54 runs scored, 16 home runs and 51 RBI all the while slugging .780 with a .515 on-base percentage. His 16 homers are tied for the most in program single-season history. Hamilton enters any potential NCAA games having reached base safely in 26 straight games.
 
Across the conference, Hamilton ranks second in OPS (1.295), third in on-base percentage, third in slugging percentage, fourth in home runs, fourth in runs, fifth in walks (36), sixth in hits and sixth in RBI.
 
Robenolt, The Rock's cleanup hitter, also started all 49 games on the way to stellar season in which he hit .360 with 39 runs, 11 home runs and 51 RBI all the while belting 15 doubles and slugging .657 with a .408 on-base percentage.
 
In addition to being tied with Hamilton for sixth in the PSAC in RBI, Robenolt is also sixth in the conference in hits with 63.
 
Morris has made 45 starts for Slippery Rock this year, batting .338 with 34 runs, eight home runs, 32 RBI, 12 doubles, a .600 slugging percentage and a .420 on-base percentage. In his first season as a full-time starter, Morris compiled 15 multi-hit games and eight games with two or more RBI.
 
Not just standouts on the field, Morris, Hamilton and Robenolt also had their work in the classroom recognized recently when they were named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team.
 
Dunn was brilliant in his first season at The Rock. A graduate transfer from Virginia Commonwealth University, Dunn anchored SRU's rotation in 2022 by going 9-1 over 11 starts with 74 strikeouts, a .206 opponent batting average and a 2.59 ERA while pitching a team-high 66 innings.
 
One of four pitchers in the league to win nine games, Dunn, who tossed three complete-game shutouts, also ranked seventh in the PSAC in opponent batting average and eighth in ERA. His nine wins are tied for the second most in single-season program history.
 
Joining Dunn as All-PSAC West selections from The Rock's rotation were Mineo and Trueman.
 
Mineo followed up a solid sophomore campaign in 2021 by going 6-3 with a 2.87 ERA, 81 strikeouts and a .192 opponent batting average in 59.2 innings of work across 11 appearances. In addition to being tied for the fifth-highest single-season strikeout total in program history, Mineo leads the PSAC in opponent batting average while carrying the 10th lowest ERA in the conference.  
 
Trueman, who has been one of the top true two-way players throughout his career, finally received his much-deserved recognition after a year in which he hit .296 at the plate with 27 runs, nine home runs and 28 RBI over 33 starts in the outfield to go with a 5-5 record in 11 starts as a member of SRU's starting rotation. Trueman posted a 4.15 ERA with 73 strikeouts and four complete games in 65 innings pitched.
 
While recently eliminated from the PSAC Tournament, SRU season is more than likely still not over as it has a strong chance to earn one of the five at-large berths into the NCAA Tournament out of the Atlantic Region.
 
Slippery Rock enters the weekend ranked fourth in the most recent Atlantic Region rankings. Conference tournament champions from the PSAC and Mountain East Conference both earn automatic berths into the national tournament from the Atlantic Region along with the next five highest-ranked teams.
 
SRU will officially learn its postseason fate when the NCAA selection committee reveals the 2022 56-team tournament field 10 p.m. Sunday in a live selection show on NCAA.com.






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