June 2, 2008
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Villanova has been voted the Philadelphia Big Five Baseball Team of the Year by the head coaches and sports information directors of its city rivals, it was announced this week. The Wildcats also received five individual honors, including the Player of the Year and Coach of the Year. Those awards went to senior shortstop Derek Shunk (Yardley, Pa.) and head coach Joe Godri, respectively, while seniors James Dolbier (Lebanon, N.J.), Bill Hoffman (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) and Dan Terpak (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) also were honored.
Villanova won 30 games this season for the 10th time in school history and qualified for the BIG EAST Championship for the second straight season. The Wildcats knocked off top-seed St. John's in the playoffs en route to making a run to the semifinals. The team wound up winning 22 of its last 35 (.629) games and its postseason run was the program's longest in 11 years. This marked the sixth time in seven seasons of Godri's tenure that Villanova won more than 25 games and had at least a .500 record.
Shunk was chosen as the All-Big Five shortstop in addition to being named Player of the Year for the second time in as many seasons. Dolbier was one of three outfielders chosen to the team and Hoffman was one of four starting pitchers. Terpak was named to the Big Five All-Academic Team.
In the final season of his outstanding collegiate career, Shunk set numerous school records along the way to batting .377 with a .467 on-base percentage and a .539 slugging percentage. All were team highs. He set new program records for career hits, games played and at-bats and also established new single-season marks for games played (tied with Terpak with 58 games played) and at-bats. Shunk was second on the team this year with six home runs and 51 RBI and he scored 43 runs while collecting 15 doubles and walking 31 times with just 25 strikeouts. He ended the season riding a career-best 15-game hitting streak and for the season reached base in 54 of 58 games played.
Dolbier provided Villanova's most dangerous power bat during the season and led the Wildcats with nine home runs, four triples, 24 extra-base hits and 53 RBI. He batted .300 with a .530 slugging percentage and stole 11 bases in 14 attempts while playing a strong defensive right field as well. In the BIG EAST Championship, he hit a grand slam and drove in five runs to help power Villanova to a 12-0 upset rout of St. John's, in the process tying the old single-game tournament record with five RBI.
The Wildcats stretch run late in the year would not have been possible without the contributions of Hoffman, who was named to the All-Tournament Team at the BIG EAST Championship. Villanova won each of Hoffman's last five starts during a stretch that included complete-game victories against Rutgers and Seton Hall. The win over Rutgers clinched a series win for the Wildcats and enabled the team to contend for a playoff spot heading into the final week of the regular season. The win over Seton Hall came on the third day of the conference tournament, marked Hoffman's first career shutout and lifted Villanova into the semifinals for the first time since 1997. Hoffman tied for the team lead with six victories, finishing the year 6-1 with a 6.12 ERA and 55 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings pitched. Over his final five starts, Hoffman went 3-0 with a 4.06 ERA and held opponents to a .232 batting average against him.
Terpak compiled an impressive list of both athletic and academic accolades. He and Shunk both started in all 58 team games and Terpak batted .273 with five home runs and 45 RBI. He reached base safely in each of the last 36 games of the season and finished the year with eight doubles, three triples and 45 runs scored. He and Shunk were the only players on the team with more than 40 RBI and at least 40 runs scored. Terpak led the team and rated second in the entire nation with nine sacrifice flies. In the classroom he earned a 3.43 GPA as a Finance major. Terpak was the 2007 Big Five Student-Athlete of the Year.
Villanova has now won at least a share of the Offensive Player of the Year Award in all three seasons that the Big Five has given out postseason honors. Jeremy Hunt won the award in 2006 and Shunk was the Co-Offensive Player of the Year last season.
The other major Big Five award winners for 2008 included Penn's Todd Roth (Pitcher of the Year) and Steve Gable (Student-Athlete of the Year) and Temple's Byron McKoy (Rookie of the Year).
The All Big Five Team consisted of Kyle Obal (C, Temple), Kyle Armeny (1B, Penn), John Rickards (2B, La Salle), Justin Handler (3B, La Salle), Derek Shunk (SS, Villanova), James Dolbier (OF, Villanova), Stan Orzechowski (OF, Temple), Jeremy Jakubowski (OF, Saint Joseph's), Byron McKoy (DH, Temple), Bill Hoffman (SP, Villanova), Todd Roth (SP, Penn), Matt Mongiardini (SP, Temple), Randy Mower (SP, Saint Joseph's) and Arshwin Asjes (RP, Temple).
The Big Five Academic Team consisted of Steve Gable (Penn), Dan Terpak (Villanova), John Rickards (La Salle), Quentin Farr (Saint Joseph's) and Mike Mongiardini (Temple).
