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DETROIT - Wayne State University head baseball coach Ryan Kelley and his staff held the 2012 Senior Recognition and Awards Banquet on Monday at the WSU Multipurpose Indoor Facility.

Senior centerfielder Kyle Vesey (Brighton, Mich.) received two awards, including the Most Valuable Player award in a vote by his teammates.  Vesey was also named Top Hitter.

Vesey's career-best .375 batting average this season leads the team and ranks sixth in the GLIAC.  He has a team-high .494 slugging percentage and has contributed 34 RBI and 41 runs scored.  Vesey hit .433 in conference games, helping the Warriors attain a second-place finish during the regular season.

He has been particularly clutch down the stretch, hitting .439 with 12 RBI and scoring at least one run in each of the last 16 games.  Vesey also has a .973 fielding percentage, having started all 53 games in center.

Junior left-hander Alex Pierse (Clinton Twp., Mich./De La Salle) received the Anthony Bass Top Pitcher award, named for the former Warrior and current starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres.  Pierse is 7-1 this season including a critical complete-game victory Thursday in the GLIAC Tournament against Lake Erie.  He ranks seventh in the GLIAC with a 2.56 ERA and sixth with a .221 batting average against.

The award for Most Improved Player went to senior right-hander Justin Sylvester (Macomb, Mich./Dakota), who brought his season ERA down from 5.40 in 2011 to 3.69 this year.  He is 2-0 in 10 appearances and has a .242 batting average against.  Sylvester's two wins have come over his last four outings, a span during which he has allowed just two earned runs in 17 innings.

Junior catcher Brad Guenther (Ann Arbor, Mich./Saline), who played errorless defense for the first 37 games of the season, was named Best Defensive Player.  Guenther has a .980 fielding percentage and has caught 13 runners stealing, second-most in the GLIAC.  He also has a .309 batting average with team-highs of 49 runs scored and 34 walks.

Other awards presented Monday night included the Warrior Award, which went to senior co-captain Phil Swanson (Rochester Hills, Mich./Stoney Creek), and the Weight Room Warrior Award, given to senior bullpen catcher Eric Ramaekers (Lake Orion, Mich.).  Former WSU catcher Michael Wiseman, who was named Division II Defensive Player of the Year in 2011, was on hand to receive his ABCA Gold Glove trophy.

The 15-member senior class gave farewell addresses to the crowd of nearly 100 guests.

Wayne State will meet Northern Kentucky in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. ET.  WSU is hosting the tournament at Oestrike Stadium on the campus of Eastern Michigan University.