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Ashley Earley and Jensen Lewis Named 2005 Vanderbilt Student-Athletes of the Year 6/20/2005 NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Commodore women’s basketball senior Ashley Earley (Memphis, Tenn.; Briarcrest) and baseball junior Jensen Lewis (Cincinnati, Ohio; Anderson) were named the 2005 Vanderbilt Student-Athletes of the Year by University administrators. Both student-athletes are representing Vanderbilt on the Southeastern Conference Student-Athlete of the Year ballot. As a senior, Earley was a first team All-SEC selection by the coaches (unanimous) and Associated Press and was named a 2005 John R. Wooden Player of the Year candidate as well as a Naismith Player of the Year candidate. She was named a 2005 Kodak/WBCA All-American for Region 3. Earley completed her career 15th on the Vanderbilt all-time charts in scoring (1,382 points), 10th in rebounds (811) and fourth in field goal percentage (.578). She played in the second-most amount of games (135) in school history behind Chantelle Anderson. In her senior campaign, Earley led the team in scoring at 18.4 ppg and rebounding (9.4 rbg) and scored in double-figures in all 32 games. She ranked third in the nation in field goal percentage shooting 64 percent from the floor and led Vanderbilt in rebounding back-to-back seasons (2003-04, 2004-05). She scored a career-high 26 points against New Orleans and totaled a Southeastern Conference best 14 double-doubles. Earley was named to the all-tournament teams of the Vanderbilt Thanksgiving Tournament, the Hilton Woodland Hills Beach Classic and the 2005 SEC Tournament. She was named to the SEC Honor Roll and also chosen as a member of the SEC’s “Good Works Team.” In four years, she averaged 10.2 points and 6.0 rebounds in four years and 23.8 minutes per contest. Lewis led the Southeastern Conference-leading pitching staff with an 8-3 record and 2.62 ERA. He began the season as the Saturday starter in his first three appearances and then started the next 11 Friday night games. He appeared in 15 games with 14 starts and earned one save. He struck out 95 batters and walked 23. Opponents owned a .218 batting average against him. He pitched his first career game shutout in an 8-0 victory at Kentucky (May 13) where he struck out a career-high 13 batters. His first career complete game was an 11-3 win at fourth-ranked South Carolina (April 15) where he retired the last 16 consecutive batters. He is one of only 12 pitchers in Vanderbilt baseball history – dating back to 1886 – who won 17 games in a career with a 17-12 record in three seasons. Lewis earned SEC Pitcher of the Week honors Feb. 21 when he went 7.0 innings facing 24 batters in a 5-2 win over VMI in the first series of the season. He struck out nine batters and VMI compiled a .053 batting average against him. He was recently named to the 2005 ABCA All-South Region and All-SEC second teams and the SEC Good Works team. He also earned SEBaseball.com All-SEC first team honors. Lewis was a third-round draft choice of the Cleveland Indians in the 2005 MLB draft. |
