Release courtesy of Tom Daeger, Associate Commissioner of the Great Lakes Valley Conference  

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For Immediate Release

May 13, 2009 

2009 Daktronics All-Midwest Region Team

McDole and Thompson Named Player and Pitcher of the Year 

INDIANAPOLIS - Northern Kentucky's Evan McDole and Bellarmine's Michael Thompson headline the 2009 Daktronics, Inc. Baseball All-Midwest Region First Team. The pair were selected as the Midwest Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, as selected by the region's sports information directors. 

McDole, a junior first baseman from Cold Spring, Ky., led Northern Kentucky to the Great Lakes Valley Conference title and was named the league's Player of the Year. He is batting .361 on the season with 56 runs, 54 RBIs, 15 home runs, 17 doubles, a .691 slugging percentage and .494 on-base percentage. 

His efforts have helped the Norse accumulate a 40-20 overall record. McDole leads the GLVC in home runs, total bases (134), walks (37) and on-base percentage (.489) and ranks second in the league in runs and slugging percentage. 

Thompson, a starting pitcher for the Knights, helped lead Bellarmine to a return appearance in the GLVC Baseball Tournament. In 14 appearances on the season, Thompson has accumulated an 8-2 overall record and a 2.84 earned run average. He has posted 118 strikeouts, three complete games and one shutout in 95 innings of work on the year. 

The senior from Newburgh, Ind. guided Bellarmine to a 33-24 record in 2009 and led the GLVC in innings pitched and strikeouts. 

Joining McDole and Thompson on the first team are Ashland's Jacob Petkac (3B), Jeff Foltz (OF), Ajay Meyer (SP) and Ben Minard (SP), Drury's Joe Rohlfing (SS), Grand Valley State's Kyle Gendron (2B), Cody Grice (OF) and Andre Benjamin (SP); Indinapolis' Chase Kittinger (C) and Ben Sondgeroth (DH); and Southern Indiana's Chad Werry (OF), Tyler Choate (UT) and Shaun Larsen (RP) 

The second team is comprised of Bellarmine's Braxton Graven (OF), Indianapolis' Cory White (SP) and Cory Rupert (SP), Grand Valley State's Ben Knuth (UT) and Matt Cade (SP), Northern Kentucky's Kevin Dusold (OF), Jason Cisper (OF), Ryan Schmidt (SP) and Matt Winterhalter (RP), Rockhurst's Mike Walczuk (DH), Saginaw Valley State's Kevin Dore (2B), Saint Joseph's Sean Estand (SS),  Southern Indiana's Alex Thieroff (3B) and Wayne State's Michael Wiseman (C) and Alex Kaminski (1B). 

All 15 first-team All-Region selections will now be placed on the national ballot for All-America consideration. The All-America teams are scheduled to be released on Friday, May 22. The complete Daktronics Midwest Region teams can be found on the following page.