CENTERVILLE, Mass. --- Junior pitcher Brendan Close (Bethlehem, Pa./Freedom HS) of the Moravian College baseball team was named the 2011 ECAC Division III South Pitcher of the Year as well as a First Team All-Star.

Close also earned the Mid-Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year Award from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, and he was the first player in school history to be named an American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings First Team All-American. Close, who earned on a spot on the D3baseball.com All-America First Team, was also named the 2011 Landmark Conference Pitcher of the Year and to the All-Conference First Team. Close garnered a spot on the Rawlings/ABCA Division III All-Mid-Atlantic Region First Team.

Close had a 10-0 record, a 1.00 ERA, four shutouts, 100 strikeouts and just five walks allowed in 80.2 innings, setting school record for wins, shutouts, strikeouts and innings pitched. Close, who was on the 2009 Landmark All-Conference First Team and the Second Team last season, has also set the school records with 22 career wins (22-3 overall), seven shutouts and 232 career strikeouts, and he is second in innings pitched at 202.1 in three seasons while walking just 27 batters.

Moravian posted a school record 31 wins this season, going 31-9 overall, the first 30-win season in school history. The Greyhounds were also 17-1 in the Landmark Conference regular season and earned the top seed and hosted the 2011 Landmark Conference Championship Tournament for the second straight year.

To view the complete 2011 ECAC Division III South All-Star Team, visit http://www.ecacsports.com/sports/spring/bsb/AllStars/Division_III_Baseball_South_2011.