Lehigh placed ten student-athletes on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll for baseball, announced by the league on Monday. A total of 54 baseball student-athletes from around the league were honored, led by Army’s Tyler Anderegg who was chosen as the Scholar-Athlete of the Year.  To be eligible for the honor roll, a student-athlete must obtain a 3.2 grade point average and be awarded a varsity letter.

A pair of recently graduated Mountain Hawks were honored by the Patriot League on Thursday as Geoff Campbell (baseball) and Melissa Rich (women’s basketball) were named the 2008-09 Sportsmanship Award winners.  The pair of winners were chosen in a vote by the League’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.  Rich becomes the first female student-athlete at Lehigh to earn this award, while Campbell is the fourth consecutive male to be honored joining Joe Knight (men’s basketball – 2006), Robbie Walsh (men’s lacrosse – 2007) and Bryan White (men’s basketball – 2008).

By Ken Mandel
Of the Morning Call

Eight days into his promotion to Double-A Akron, Aeros outfielder Matt McBride contributed in a big way to a perfect afternoon.  The former Liberty High School and Lehigh University slugger and Bethlehem native made a diving catch to start the ninth inning of a 3-0 win against the Trenton Thunder, then caught the final out of Jeanmar Gomez's perfect game on Thursday.

Matt McBride, the former Lehigh slugger, had been on a tear during his time with the Kinston Indians, a Class A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, this spring.  The 2006 Patriot League Player of the Year was batting .405 through 31 games with 51 hits, 15 doubles and six home runs, and thought he would be taking on the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Tuesday evening in Delaware.  However McBride received news earlier in the day that he had been called up to play for the Akron Aeros, a Double A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians, and so he made his way to Ohio for a game on Tuesday versus the Bowie Baysox.  The Bethlehem native started in right field and proceeded to go 1-for-4 at the plate as Akron fell to the Baysox 7-4.

Lehigh’s top two hitters were named to the 2009 All-Patriot League Teams on Tuesday as sophomore Andy Russell earned a spot on the First-Team and senior captain Geoff Campbell garnered Second-Team accolades.  Russell led the Brown and White with a .348 average this past season, with Campbell close behind, maintaining a .342 average.  This marks the eighth consecutive season Lehigh has placed at least one player on the All-League First Team.