The Coastal Plain League announced today that Forest City Owls head coach Matt Hayes has been named the CPL Coach of the Year following the completion of the 2009 season.
 
Hayes took the helm of the Owls and saw them finish with the best record ever by a Coastal Plain League team: 51-9 (a .850 winning percentage). Five of those wins came in the Petitt Cup Playoffs, where the Owls swept their way to their first-ever CPL Petitt Cup Championship. And to attest to the strength of the Forest City team, they were ranked as the No. 1 team in the country by PG Crosschecker much of the regular season, and finished as the top-ranked team in the nation at the end of summer as well.
 
Forest City had a memorable season, as they won both the West Division First and Second Half Championships, and broke records – both individual and team – along the way. The Owls went 24-3 (.889) in the first half, breaking the record for the best record in a half of 23-5 held by Fayetteville (first half) and Edenton (second half) in 2007. Forest City then went on to a 22-6 second half record, which gave them 46 regular season wins – four more than the old record of 42 set by the 2007 Fayetteville SwampDogs.
 
Outfielder Will Skinner (Middle Tennessee State) broke the record for most doubles in a season with 21 – one more than Tim LaVigne (Wilmington Sharks) had in 1999. Infielder Konstantine Diamaduros (Wofford) finished as the league’s batting champ after he led the league with a .376 average on the regular season. Then, on the mound, starters Ryan Arrowood (Appalachian State) and Spencer Patton (SIU-Edwardsville) combined to go 19-0 in the regular season and another 4-0 in the playoffs. Arrowood’s 10 regular season wins tied the record held by Brian Adams of Rocky Mount in 1998, while Patton threw 15 strikeouts in his final regular season appearance to give him 110 on the season; breaking the old record of 108 by Outer Banks’ Matt Jansen in 1999. And just as notable was the arm of closer Robbie Andrews (Virginia Commonwealth), who finished with a 0.00 ERA and 12 saves on the regular season, but didn’t allow a single run nor walk on the summer.
 
As a team, the Forest City Owls led the league with a .278 batting average, and was fourth in the CPL in team ERA at 3.27. And as no surprise, the Owls were at the top or among the top leaders in every meaningful offensive and pitching category.
 
Furthermore, Forest City had several players turn in All-Star performances. In all, a league-best eight players (Diamaduros, Skinner, Patton, Arrowood, Andrews, Wade Moore, Pratt Maynard and Bryan Breedlove) were named to the CPL American and National All-Star Teams. Hayes earned the head coaching job for the American All-Stars. And five Owls – Diamaduros (twice), Moore, Patton, Hembree and Breedlove – were honored as a Rawlings Hitters or Pitchers of the Week throughout the season.
 
Hayes, who spent the 2008-09 season as an assistant coach at Indiana, has served four years as a head coach in the Coastal Plain League, including the last two with the Forest City Owls. He led the Owls to a 28-26 league record in 2008, and won the West Division First Half title. He went on to be named the associate head coach of the American All-Star team. Overall, Hayes sports a 131-88 record as a head coach in the CPL, including three straight trips to the postseason.
 
At Indiana, Hayes coached first base and worked with the hitters, infielders and outfielders. Prior to his time with the Hoosiers, Hayes spent six years as an assistant coach at Limestone College. He had the same responsibilities at Limestone, and also oversaw the Saints junior varsity program. Hayes attended the Danville Area Community College in Illinois before transferring to Mars Hill College, where he was a standout on the Lions baseball team. He graduated with a degree in Sports Management in 2002. Furthermore, Hayes was the head coach for the American Legion Post 23 team in Gastonia for three seasons and served as a volunteer assistant coach for the CPL’s Gastonia Grizzlies in 2005.