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May 15, 2002
Four LHU Baseball Players Earn All-PSAC West Honors
Eleventh-Year Mentor Smokey Stover Named Coach of the Year

(l-r): Kevin Conklin, Andy Leakey,
Ryan Varga, Ernest Woods

(below): Head Coach Smokey Stover

(Lock Haven, Pa.) - Four baseball players from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania were among those honored as All-Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) team members. Ernest Woods (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Thomas Edison) earned First Team All-PSAC West honors, while Ryan Varga (Edgewater Park, N.J./Burlington City), Andy Leakey (State College/State College), and Kevin Conklin (State College/State College) all received Second Team All-PSAC West mention. Head Coach Smokey Stover earned additional recognition as the PSAC West Coach of the Year.
             Ernest Woods, a senior, earns First Team All-PSAC West honors as a designated hitter. Woods paced the Bald Eagles at the plate, hitting .338 with 45 hits in 133 at-bats. He was the team-leader in doubles (12) and home runs (4), and was second with 30 RBIs. This was Woods’s second appearance on the all-conference team, also meriting second team honors in 2000.
            Senior right-handed pitcher Ryan Varga nabs second team all-conference accolades following his best season as a Bald Eagle. Varga set the school record for wins in a season (10) and innings pitched (90.1), finishing at 10-4 overall with a 3.19 earned run average. The senior Bald Eagle posted six complete games with one solo shutout effort along with three combined shutouts. He led Lock Haven with 71 strikeouts in 15 mound appearances.
           Closer Andy Leakey was an integral member of the Haven battery this season, making 21 appearances. The sophomore right-handed pitcher pocketed four saves in addition to a win-loss ledger of 4-3 and a 4.66 earned run average. Leakey registered 53 strikeouts in 38.2 innings of work over the season.

Bald Eagle Head Coach
Smokey Stover

         Senior Kevin Conklin makes his first appearance on the all-conference list, earning second team honors as a centerfielder. Conklin was second on the Bald Eagle offensive charts, hitting .326 with a team-high of 47 hits and 41 runs. He was first on the team with four triples, and also tallied eight doubles along with three home runs and 17 RBI. In the field, he recorded a .971 fielding percentage with a total of 96 putouts and six assists.
          Head coach Paul “Smokey” Stover was voted as the PSAC West Coach of the Year by his peers, his second such honor after earning the same recognition following the 2000 season. Stover guided this year’s ball club to a 25-20-1 overall mark and a 14-5-1 PSAC Western Division record. The 2002 Bald Eagles advanced to the PSAC tournament for the sixth time in school history and the third under Stover, finishing as the conference runners-up. Stover has established a career win-loss mark of 234-210-7 (.527) in his 11 years at Lock Haven.

For a complete list of the All-PSAC baseball team, go to the PSAC website at http://www.psacsports.org/

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