BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Brendan Close '12, an All-American pitcher on the baseball team, is being inducted into the Moravian University Athletic Hall of Fame on Friday, September 22 in Johnston Hall beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Close, a 2012 Moravian graduate, competed on the baseball team during his career with the Greyhounds. During his four-year career, Close was a two-time Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year and four-time Landmark All-Conference selection. His junior year in 2011 was one of the best in program history with a 10-0 record in 80.2 innings of work, 100 strikeouts, just five walks, four shutouts and a 1.00 ERA with the wins, innings pitched, shutouts and strikeouts still single season school records. After that season, Close was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association and D3baseball.com All-America First Teams, the ABCA Mid-Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year, to the ABCA/Rawlings and D3baseball.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region First Teams, the Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year and to the Landmark All-Conference First Team.
Close would be honored on the ABCA/Rawlings and D3baseball.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region Second Teams after his senior year, and he repeated as the Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year and All-Conference First Team honoree in 2012. Close made the Landmark All-Conference First Team as a freshman in 2009 and the Second Team in 2010 as well, and he was honored on the ECAC Division III South All-Star First Team in 2009 and Second Team in 2012. Close finished his career being honored as the Moravian Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year. He completed his career with school records of 30 wins, 268.1 innings pitched, 285 strikeouts and eight shutouts. Close also had a career ERA of 2.35, which ranks fourth in program history, and he has the second-most strikeouts in a single game with 16 versus The University of Scranton in 2011.
Off the field, Close was named to the Capital One Academic All-America Second Team in 2012 while making the Capital One Academic All-District Team as a junior and senior. He was also a three-time member of the Landmark Conference Spring Academic Honor Roll and selected to the Landmark Conference Spring All-Academic Team in 2011.
Close is being joined by women's basketball and women's track & field student-athlete Kelly Applegate '07; women's soccer goalie Caitlin Corrigan Boyer '09; women's volleyball standout Kaitie Kramer-Bicknell '00 and javelin thrower Gary Zack '12 to make up the Moravian Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2023. The 1999 and 1998 women's volleyball teams and the 2007 and 2008 women's soccer squads will also be inducted on Friday, September 22 in Johnston Hall as part of Moravian's Homecoming Weekend while Patricia Billie Miller '77 will receive the Robert Martin Herbstman Award.
Online registration for the 2023 Moravian University Hall of Fame Ceremony closes on September 6 and is available at https://www.moraviansports.com/information/tickets.
