Sherman and four Fightin' Blue Hens players were honored during the annual conference awards banquet held Tuesday evening on the campus of the University of North Carolina Wilmington, site of the CAA championship tournament. UD senior left fielder Bryan Hagerich was named first team All-CAA and sophomore infielder Alex Buchholz, senior starting pitcher Billy Harris and junior closer David Slovak were named second team All-CAA.
Sherman guided the Hens through a difficult start and the team went 23-6 over the final weeks of the regular season to finish 29-21 overall and 18-10 in the CAA, good for a share of first place and the second seed in the conference tournament.
“It's an honor to receive the coach of the year award, however we recognize that this is not an individual award but that it is surely a team award,” Sherman said in accepting the honor. “We ended up where we thought we would, near the top of the pack, and this shows how our senior leadership really started to shine through in the second half of the season.”
Hagerich hit .328 with 16 home runs and 50 runs batted in for the Hens during the regular season. The co-captain is now tied with Sherman, his coach, for second place on the UD career home run list with 46. He is in the top 10 in program history in at-bats (759), RBI (170) and games played (214).
Buchholz was named CAA rookie of the year in 2006 and had an even better year in 2007. He leads the Hens with a .391 batting average, 55 RBI, 84 hits, .665 slugging percentage and .436 on-base percentage, and he leads the nation in doubles with 25.
Harris did an outstanding job as a starting pitcher. He went 6-0 in conference play and 6-1 overall, recording a 4.01 earned run average, among the best in the conference. He is among the national leaders with 81 strikeouts.
Slovak solidified the bullpen in his first season with the Hens, setting UD single-season records with 31 appearances and 11 saves. Slovak posted a 2.58 earned run average in 45.1 innings of work and held opposing hitters to a .209 batting average, the lowest mark for a Delaware pitcher since Steve Franzini held opposing hitters to a .200 average in 1996.
