Senior first baseman Jonathan Dehoux has immersed his name throughout the Apprentice School baseball record books in his four-year career and ends with the honor of being named the 2009-10 Apprentice School Athlete Of The Year.
Dehoux, a Mathews, Va. native and maintenance electrician apprentice, will end his career with a string of single-season and career records for the baseball program. He currently has or shares 30 records including career hits (265), runs batted in (220), single game RBIs (10), single season hits (72 in 2008 and 2009) and single season batting average (.450 in 2009) to name a few.
This year he finished with a .392 batting average with 71 hits, 17 doubles, one triple, 13 home runs and 63 RBIs in 41 games for the Builders. He's had an 11-game consecutive hits streak and ended with a nine-game streak. Dehoux has had 25 multi-hit games, 10 of which were at least three-hit games, and 20 multi-RBI games. His three-hit games have come against NCAA Division II nationally-ranked Kutztown University (drove in three with a home run), NCAA Division II Washington Adventist University and NCAA Division III nationally-ranked Tufts University (added a home run in the game). He had a season-high four hits against St. Joseph's College-Brooklyn on May 1. In that game, he also broke the single season home run record as he hit a grand slam for his 13th home run of the season to break the previous record of 12 by Tony Brown in 2001.
“Jonathan is a deserving recipient of this award with the year and career that he's had for us,” said Apprentice School Head Coach Bryan Cave. “He has had as good a four-year career – both offensively and defensively – as anyone has had here. His defensive abilities at first base have saved infielders numerous errors over his four year career. Dehoux's commitment to the program has been above reproach as I can count on one hand the number of times in his four years that's he's missed a practice for any reason. On top of all of his athletic ability, he's been as solid in the classroom and on the job as he has been on the field for us.”
He's been a solid first baseman throughout his career as he has only made five errors in nearly 410 chances and has been noted by the U.S. Collegiate Athletic Association as a three-time USCAA All-American. Throughout the state, Dehoux has also been honored as a Virginia Sports Information Directors Association All-State honoree the last two seasons.
In the classroom, Dehoux holds a 3.28 grade point average and was noted as a College Sports Information Directors Association Academic All-District selection in 2009 and a USCAA All-Academic team honoree in 2008.
His craft instructor, Kevin Bond, echoes the sentiments of others in describing Dehoux's work in the classroom and the job. “Jon has always been a pleasure to work with. His performance on the job has always been outstanding,” he said. “His co-workers and foreman have always found him a pleasure to work with. Jon's current assignment is to work in our Power Distribution group (known as “High Voltage”). In this group, Jon is often assigned to work with the power monitoring communication system. He has grasped the concept associated with this system quickly and became an asset to the team. Jon is a good person and I know he has worked hard on the job, on the field, and I am sure at home and deserves this award.”
Dehoux will be presented his award in conjunction with the Peninsula Sports Club Headliners Night on June 14 at the Hampton Holiday Inn.