GVSU's Grice, Lyon Headline the NCBWA Midwest Region Baseball Team

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Grand Valley State University's baseball team continues to receive postseason accolades. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) has named Grand Valley State's junior outfielder Cody Grice (DeWitt, Mich.) the 2011 Midwest Region "Player of the Year", and Steve Lyon 2011 Midwest Region "Coach of the Year."

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Grice, who was also selected as GLIAC "Player of the Year," had a stellar season at the plate and in centerfield for the Lakers. Grice is hitting .388 this season with 57 runs, four home runs and 59 runs-batted-in. He has a .590 slugging percentage and a .477 on-base percentage for the entire season. During the regular season he ranked second in the league in runs, RBI, and hit by pitches with 12, the fourth highest single-season total in school history. Grice ranks in the top eight in the conference in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, runs, hits (56), RBI, doubles (11), triples (3), home runs (4), total bases (85), walks (28), hit by pitch, sacrifice flies (12) and stolen bases (18).

Lyon has guided the Lakers to the top winning percentage in NCAA Division II this season and the Lakers finished the regular season with the best GLIAC record in conference history. The team’s 52 overall wins are the most in school history for the Lakers' baseball program. Lyon notched his 500th career victory as the head coach of the Lakers on May 7th with a 4-3 win over Ohio Dominican, with a career record now standing at 509-188-2 as the Lakers’ head coach. He has helped construct the longest winning streak in school history; the Lakers won 32 straight games during the season, besting the 2006 squad that had a 21-game winning streak. Lyon has led the Grand Valley State to the College World Series for the fifth time this season sweeping Midwest Region Tournament. The Lakers won the 15th GLIAC title in school history this year, the eighth in the last nine years and the eighth in Lyon’s career.

There were seven Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) players joining Grice on the 2011 NCBWA Midwest Region First Team. Grand Valley State had five other players named to the first team in junior second baseman Garrett Yatch (Midland, Mich./Kellogg C.C.), senior utility infielder Cory Phillips (Normal, Ill./Heartland Community College), junior outfielder Steve Anderson (Northville, Mich.), junior starting pitcher Kyle Schepel (Grand Rapids, Mich/Christian), and sophomore relief pitcher Brad Zambron (Waterford Mich./Brother Rice). Ashland University senior pitcher Ajay Meyer (East Halmer, Ohio/Owens C.C.) earned first team accolades, along with Wayne State University senior catcher Michael Wiseman (White Lake, Mich/Lakeland).

A complete list of the 2011 NCBWA Midwest Region Teams are below: