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PGCBL Coach of the Year Award

Cooperstown's Eric Coleman (far right) is the 2011 PGCBL Coach of the Year. Standing next to him is assistant coach Brett Gips. Photo courtesy Cooperstown Hawkeyes

The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League is pleased to announce that Eric Coleman of the Cooperstown Hawkeyes has been chosen as the 2011 PGCBL Coach of the Year.

Coleman guided the second-year Hawkeyes to the PGCBL West regular season championship, a franchise record 25 victories and a .556 winning percentage which was the third highest among all league teams at the end of the regular season. Cooperstown completed its' PGCBL schedule 25-20 and finished one half game ahead of the eventual league champion Newark Pilots in the PGCBL West Division standings.

Twenty-five of Cooperstown’s 45 regular season games were decided by two runs or less. Coleman’s charges went 17-8 in those contests and they compiled a 14-5 mark in one-run games. No other team in the league won more than 10 one-run games and only Glens Falls (15-8) was able to match Cooperstown’s record in contests decided by two runs or less. The Hawkeyes played five extra-inning games (four on the road) and triumphed in three of them. Cooperstown tied Amsterdam for the best home winning percentage in the league; each team posted a .667 mark at home.

Cooperstown’s Bryan Aanderud (Cypress) tied with Elmira’s Ryan Normoyle (Washington, Md.) for the league batting championship; each batted .379. Three Hawkeyes were named to the All-PGCBL squad and one (Parker Ray) was selected to the PGCBL Rising Stars team.

The Hawkeyes won 25 games despite a roster that featured significant turnover throughout the season and a low-scoring offense. Of the nine starting players in Cooperstown’s line-up on June 9 at Elmira, just three finished the season. Cooperstown’s batting order boasted just two hitters with a batting average over .300 and the Hawkeyes’ .249 team average was the lowest among eight league clubs.

Cooperstown was one of four teams to advance to the PGCBL postseason. The Hawkeyes earned their first-ever postseason victory with a Game 1 win over Newark in the divisional playoffs.

Coleman, a North Las Vegas, Nev., native is just the second head coach in Cooperstown Hawkeyes history. He joined the franchise after spending three years with the Frontier League’s Oakland County Cruisers (also known as Midwest Sliders) as a coach and general manager.

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