Chambers named Rawlings 2005 CPL Offensive Player of the Year Olson earns First Team All-NECBL honors

RINDGE, N.H. (August 22, 2005) - Two members of the Franklin Pierce baseball team received postseason accolades from their respective summer collegiate baseball leagues.

Junior second baseman Mike Chambers (Londonderry, N.H./Londonderry) was named the Rawlings 2005 Coastal Plains League (CPL) Offensive Player of the Year, while sophomore Garrett Olson (Norway, Maine/Oxford Hills) earned first team All-New England College Baseball League (NECBL) honors at shortstop with the Keene Swamp Bats.

Chambers was consistently among the CPL's top hitters throughout the 2005 season.  He started and played in 56 games for the Petersburg (Va.) Generals and ended up finishing with a league-best .337 batting average. Chambers also recorded league-bests in hits (64), doubles (15) and total bases (93).

In addition to those numbers, Chambers also hit five home runs and racked up 26 runs scored to go with 28 RBIs. Chambers finished second in slugging percentage at .497, while being walked 30 times and recording a .436 on-base percentage. He also added 13 stolen bases to his resume.

Chambers led Petersburg into the Petitt Cup Tournament for the first time since 2003. The Generals, however, fell to the top-seeded Edenton Steamers, who went on to win the Petitt Cup Championship for the second-straight year. Chambers was also named the Rawlings CPL Hitter of the Week following the first week of the season.

Chambers was a first team All-Region and All-Conference selection for the second-straight season for Franklin Pierce last spring. He also received honorable mention All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America (NCBWA). Chambers hit .332 for the Ravens to go with 47 runs scored (2^nd NE-10), a school-record 18 doubles (1^st), nine home runs (3^rd) and 45 RBI (2^nd) while registering a .572 slugging percentage (4^th).  Chambers also captured the Louisville Slugger College Division MVP honors at the 31^st Annual New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association All-Star game in June.

Olson, a consensus All-America third baseman for Franklin Pierce this spring, earned All-NECBL honors at shortstop for the Keene Swamp Bats.  He started 38 games for Keene, hitting .322 while collecting 48 hits, 12 doubles and five homeruns. Olson was a second team All-NECBL pick for the Swamp Bats in 2004 as an outfielder.

Olson recorded a .503 slugging percentage to go along with a .388 on-base percentage.  Olson finished first in the league in runs scored (37) and fourth in total bases (75). 

Olson helped Swamp Bats capture the NECBL's Northern Division regular season title. Keene continued on to Northern Division Championship series against Vermont, but was defeated by Mountaineers in the final game of the series.

Olson ranked among Northeast-10 Conference leaders in numerous categories for Franklin Pierce this spring as he posted a .375 batting average (4^th), 57 runs scored (1^st), 13 doubles (10^th), two triples, 11 home runs (1^st), 42 RBI (3^rd) and 14 steals (10^th) to go with a .442 on-base (3^rd) and .625 slugging percentage (2^nd). He also led the NE-10 with 75 hits. In addition to his offensive numbers, Olson was nearly flawless in the field, committing just seven errors (down from 24 as a freshman) in 155 chances (.955 fielding percentage).

Franklin Pierce (32-14, 21-9 NE-10) claimed its first Northeast-10 Conference Tournament championship this past spring, earning its second NCAA Tournament berth in three years. The Ravens hosted the NCAA Northeast Regional for the first time in program history and advanced to the regional title game before falling to Southern Connecticut State University. Franklin Pierce has matched the program record for wins three-straight years and the season ranked No. 29 in Collegiate Baseball magazine's Division II ranking and No. 24 in the NCBWA poll.