May 21, 2001
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State senior All-American catcher Casey Myers was named the 2001 Pacific-10 Conference Baseball Player of the Year for the second consecutive time, while USC junior right-hander pitcher Mark Prior earned Pitcher of the Year honors in a vote by the conference baseball coaches. In addition to Myers earning the Pac-10 Player of the Year Award, freshman Rod Allen, junior Brooks Conrad and junior Chris Duffy were named All-Pac-10 first team selections. A handful of other Sun Devil standouts were named Pac-10 Honorable Mention.
Myers became only the third player in Pac-10 history to repeat as the Pac-10 Player of the Year and is the 10th selection as Pac-10 player of the year for the heralded Arizona State baseball program. Myers joins former Stanford catcher A.J. Hinch ((1995-96) and former UCLA slugger Torey Lovullo (1985-86) as the only players to win the award twice. This was the third consecutive year that a Sun Devil has won the Player of the Year award. Willie Bloomquist won the honor in 1999, the first year of the combined Pac-10, and Myers was the recipient last year after batting .412 with 97 RBI and 18 home runs.
The senior catcher is having a banner season once again in 2001. Among the league leaders in several categories, Myers recently became only the third Sun Devil in school history to surpass 300 career hits and enters postseason play needing 11 RBI to match the school and Pac-10 record of 283. He is a semifinalist for the prestigious Rotary Smith National Player of the Year Award and Johnny Bench National Catcher of the Year Award.
Duffy, Allen and Conrad were all listed on the All-Pac-10 team. Duffy is the third-leading hitter on the Sun Devil squad with a .374 batting average. The junior college transfer from South Mountain Community College has stolen 19 bases and in 45 starts has recorded 25 multi-hit games. Allen is having a banner freshman season, leading the team in hitting at .387, hit five home runs and knocked in 47. Conrad has been instrumental to ASU's defensive success and has four home runs on the year. He has played in all 55 of ASU's games this year.
Also listed on the All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention team were redshirt freshman starting pitcher Mike Esposito, senior reliever Drew Friedberg, freshman reliever Aaron Klusman, senior third baseman Mike Lopez, junior starting pitcher Jon Switzer, junior pitcher Andy Torres and sophomore shortstop Dennis Wyrick.
Copy By Jeff R. Evans
ASU Media Relations