2008 AVISTA-NAIA Baseball All-Tournament Team Selected

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the 2008 AVISTA-NAIA Baseball All-Tournament Team, as selected by the NAIA-Baseball Games Committee and attending media. Brian Ward, a junior catcher from Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), has been picked as the Most Valuable Player.

For the World Series, Ward hit .444 (12-for-27) including 3-for-5 in the Championship game. In five games, Ward has knocked in eight RBI, three home runs and a World-Series high five doubles. His highlight game came in the first Championship game against Lee (Tenn.) on Thursday night. Smashing two home runs and going 3-for-5 with three RBI, Ward completed LCSC's comeback with the game-winning double in the ninth inning.

Jeremy Hutslar of Lee (Tenn.) was tabbed with the Charlie Hustle Award while teammate Brian Bistagne won the Gold Glove Award.

Other awards were dished out including the Hank Burbridge Champions of Character Team Award (Lewis-Clark State) and Buffalo Funds-NAIA 5-Star Champions of Character Team Award (Lewis-Clark State). Both accolades recognize the team that has best exhibited the five core character values of Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Servant Leadership and Sportsmanship.

Chris Maloney, a senior left-handed pitcher from Embry-Riddle (Fla.) University, was pegged as the Hank Burbridge Champion of Character player. This marked the fifth straight year for recognizing this award in memory of Hall of Fame Coach Hank Burbridge who won over 1,000 games in 40 years at Spring Arbor (Mich.).

2008 AVISTA-NAIA Baseball All-Tournament Team