Baseball Southern Conference

ETSU's Moore Wins NCAA Batting Crown

ETSU catcher Caleb Moore
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (July 1, 2004) -- East Tennessee State junior catcher Caleb Moore (Knoxville, Tenn.) led all Division I players in batting average and doubles in 2004 as the NCAA released final statistics on Thursday. Moore hit .455 this past season while slugging 31 doubles (.60 per game).

Brian Bixler of Eastern Michigan finished second with a .453 batting average while Stephen Carter of Eastern Kentucky was third at .448. East Carolina's Ryan Norwood averaged .53 doubles per game while Utah's Matt Ciaramella finished third with .48 doubles per contest.

Moore put together one of the best seasons in ETSU history in 2004, shattering the school batting average record, previously held by outfielder Steve Meredith who batted .419 in 1988. He also broke the ETSU and Southern Conference doubles records.

In addition, Caleb led the Bucs this season with 59 runs scored, a .752 slugging percentage and a .529 on-base percentage. Moore was also second on the Bucs with nine home runs and third on the squad with 45 RBIs. He ended the season on a 21-game hitting streak.

Caleb also served as the Buccaneer closer this season, posting a 2-0 record with six saves and a 3.60 ERA. Moore was dominant in his final 11 appearances of the season, yielding just a 1.35 ERA.

Following the season, Moore was named Southern Conference Player of the Year by the league's coaches and media.

Caleb was also recently named as a Louisville Slugger All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Moore and South Carolina's Landon Powell were second-team selections while Cal State-Fullerton's Kurt Suzuki was the first-team catcher.

The Citadel's Chip Cannon found himself led the nation in walks per game in 2004. Six other Bulldogs were listed among the nation's leaders, while the Bulldogs finished in the top-100 in five team categories.

Cannon, who broke the Southern Conference and Citadel single-season walks record with 71 base on balls, recorded a 1.06 walks per game mark over 67 games. Cannon's 0.681 slugging percentage was good enough for 39th, while his 0.25 home runs per game ranked him 64th. He was one of only two players in the nation to finish with a walks per game ratio over one.

Fellow Bulldog Jonathan Ellis was listed among the nation's pitching leaders in two categories, earned run average and victories. Ellis' 12 victories on the mound placed in a tie for tenth with some of the country's top pitchers, including Miami's Cesar Carrillo, Rice's Wade Townsend and Long Beach State's Cesar Ramos. Ellis was ranked 19th in ERA with a 2.18 season clip. He allowed only 33 earned runs in 136.1 innings of work.

Will Coker, Andy Phillips, Matt Matulia and Chris Ard were all listed in the top-100 in sacrifice hits per game. Coker led the Bulldog quartet with 0.22 per game, which placed him 26th in the nation. Phillips placed 43rd with 0.2 per game, while Matulia and Ard were 65th and 81st with 0.19 and 0.18 per game, respectively.

As a team, the Bulldogs were one of the best defensive teams in the nation. The Citadel defense not only led the Southern Conference in fielding percentage with a 0.974 season mark, but they also wrapped up the season tied for eighth in the nation. The Bulldogs, who made 69 errors in 67 games, found themselves in a six-way tie for eighth with Oral Roberts, Stanford, Texas, UC Santa Barbara and Birmingham-Southern

The other four team categories in which the Dogs finished in the top-100 included ERA (49th - 4.18), winning percentage (84th - 0.582), double plays per game (85th - 0.9) and stolen bases per game (95 - 1.28).