The Macalester baseball program announced its 2009 team awards and right-handed pitcher James Murrey (Jr., Western Springs, Ill. / Lyons Township) has been named the team's Most Valuable Player for the second year in a row.

Offensive MVP honors for the '09 season go to shortstop Nate Wilson-Traisman (Jr., Eugene, Ore. / South Eugene) and the team's defensive MVP for the second straight year is third baseman Devin English (Jr., Annapolis, Md. / DeMatha). Murrey also repeats as Mac's Most Valuable Pitcher.

Most Improved Player honors go to pitcher Alex Ingram (So., Chicago, Ill. / Morgan Park Academy) and the winner of the Team Award is catcher Gabe Feingold (Fy., Berkeley, Calif. / College Preparatory).

Murrey led the MIAC in both ERA and strikeouts, posting a 42 to 4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in league play, and put together one of the best pitching seasons in team history. He went 6-3 with a 1.95 ERA in nine starts, striking out 76 and walking only four in 55 1/3 innings. Opponents batted .213 off him and he reached double digits in K's in four starts. Murrey is currently ranked 11th in the NCAA Division III in strikeouts per nine innings (12.4) and 19th in earned run average.

Wilson-Traisman enjoyed another big season defensively at shortstop and as the No. 3 hitter in the lineup, produced the program's highest batting average since All-American Joel Brettingen hit .478 in 2002. His 44 RBI's is the most at Mac since Brettingen drove in 44 in '02 and were four away from a school record. Wilson-Traisman finished with a .425 average, a .630 slugging percentage, a .472 on-base percentage and 19 extra base hits. He led the team runs scored with 30 and at shortstop was in on 21 double plays while playing every inning of the season. The clutch-hitting Wilson-Traisman batted .500 with runners on base (33-for-66) and .560 with runners in scoring position. In 14 trips to the plate with a runner on third and less than two outs, he drove that run in 13 times.

One of the MIAC's top offensive and defensive infielders, English enjoyed another excellent season at the hot corner, stealing several opponent hits with great plays and starting seven double plays and helping the Scots rank 40th out of 359 teams nationally in fielding percentage. English also hit .366 with 29 runs scored and 22 RBI's.

Ingram made major strides from his freshman season and joined with Murrey to give the Scots a reliable one-two punch at the top of the pitching rotation. Ingram finished with a 3-5 record in 10 games and fanned 39 batters (while walking just 15) in 43 2/3 innings. He ranked eighth in the MIAC in strikeouts and went 2-3 in the conference.

Macalester's team captains for the '09 campaign have also been announced. They are English, Murrey and Wilson-Traisman – the same as this year's captains.