May 21, 2001

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Wake Forest's Jamie D'Antona was chosen as the ACC Rookie of the Year as Florida State's John-Ford Griffin and Mike Martin claimed the 2001 Atlantic Coast Conference Player and Coach of the Year, respectively, by a vote of the league's nine head coaches.

D'Antona, a Trumbull, Conn., freshman, was second in the ACC in runs batted in and led the Demon Deacons with 1.19 per game. He was also named to the ACC All-Tournament team for his play this past week and is a second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection. D'Antona is the first Deacon player to be named ACC Rookie of the Year.

For much of the season, D'Antona led all first basemen nationally in RBI. He had two home runs in the ACC Tournament, including a three-run blast in the second inning of the championship game against NC State.

Florida State's John-Ford Griffin, the ACC leader in batting average. Martin was named ACC Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career. He was also selected as ACC Coach of the Year in 1998 and 1999. Ironically, the last three times Martin has been voted ACC Coach of the Year, Wake Forest has won the ACC Tournament.

The coaches' vote was conducted before the ACC Tournament. The honors were released Monday by the conference office.