Perry, Ketch land first; joined by eight other Seahawks on All-CCC squad

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) announced its 2018 Baseball All-Conference Teams and major award winners Friday morning. All nine CCC baseball schools had at least one representative on this year's All-CCC list. Salve Regina University and Western New England University each had 10 honorees to lead the group.

Two of the Golden Bears selections were also major award winners as Alex Loparco (Riverside, Conn.) was named the 2018 CCC Player of the Year and Bob Hamel (Southwwick, Mass.) won Pitcher of the Year. This season was the first year that the league awarded a Defensive Player of the Year with Curry's Justin Cage (Glendora, Calif.) taking home the inaugural honor. Gordon right-hander Joe Pedulla (Monroe Township, N.J.) was selected as the Rookie of the Year and Wentworth's Tim Elrick (Plymouth, Mass.) was voted the Senior Scholar-Athlete. Two coaches were recognized as CCC Coach of the Year with WNE's Dan Gomez and Roger Williams' Jason Tower earning accolades. Endicott was the winner of the Team Sportsmanship award.

Voting for the All-CCC teams and each of the major awards was conducted by the conference's nine baseball head coaches following the conclusion of the regular season.

Four of the major award winners were also represented on the All-CCC First Team. Hamel and Pedulla were two of the three First Team starting pitchers with Cage serving as the First Team catcher. Loparco was the First Team shortstop. The third starting pitcher on the First Team was Curry's David Griffin (Hanover, Mass.). Joining Loparco in the infield were Salve Regina's Alex Perry (North Attleboro, Mass.), Endicott's Michael DeDonato (Chelmsford, Mass.), and WNE's Jared Rosenblatt (Avon, Conn.) from first to third. Three outfielders were picked on the All-CCC First Team. They were Nichols' Nick Roy (Middletown, Conn.), the Seahawks' Dylan Ketch (Clinton, Conn.), and the Golden Bears' Erik Lacaire (Worcester, Mass.). Lacaire's teammate Joe Cassella (Wallingford, Conn.) was the First Team designated hitter, while two Endicott relievers, Alexander Mandrus (Acton, Mass.) and Will Bryant (Cumberland, Maine), also earned spots.

There were 15 players recognized as All-CCC Second Teamers. The starting pitchers were Sam Bennett (Andover, Mass.) from Roger Williams, Patrick Maybach (Saunderstown, R.I.) from Salve Regina, and Paul Wetmore (Hamden, Conn.) from Western New England with the Golden Bears' Sean Halligan (North Branford, Conn.) earning a spot out of the bullpen. Their battery mate on the Second Team was Hawks catcher Chris Bosco (North Andover, Mass.). The right side of the infield was filled with Bison as Kyle Bouchard (Fall River, Mass.) and Cam Cook (Phoenixville, Pa.) earned selections at first base and second base, respectively. Two third basemen were selected to the Second Team, including Salve's Colton Eremian (Boca Raton, Fla.) and Gordon's Daniel Quint (Wells, Maine). Quint's teammate Christian Hodge (Waltham, Mass.) was the Second Team shortstop. Wentworth's Elrick was one of the three Second Team outfielders with Salve freshman Michael DeFusco (East Greenwich, R.I.) and Western New England's Ben LaCroix (Branford, Conn.) filling the other two positions. Zack Smith (New Canaan, Conn.) also represented the Seahawks at the DH position, while utility player Zachary Carmody (Babylon, N.Y.) gave Eastern Nazarene their lone All-CCC representative.

Five of the 14-member All-CCC Third Team were pitchers including starters Justin Garcia (Foxborough, Mass) from the Hawks, Will Ginsberg (Sharon, Mass.) from the Seahawks, Derek Hudson (Hudson, N.H.) from the Fighting Scots, and Jake Kawiecki (Burlington, Conn.) from the Golden Bears. Roger Williams reliever Matt Vernacatola (Berlin, Conn.) was also picked. Around the diamond were three more players from Salve Regina with Christian Vargas (Melbourne, Fla.) honored at catcher, John Militano (Miller Place, N.Y.) selected at second base, and his double-play partner Anthony Cieszko (Woodcliff Lake, N.J.) chosen at shortstop. On the corners were WNE first baseman Zac Nussbaum (Bridgewater, Mass.) and RWU third baseman Shane Nowak (Litchfield, N.H.). Three Gulls patrolled the All-CCC Third Team outfield with Dan Cacciola (Saugus, Mass.), Michael Casciano (Somers, Conn.), and Brad Rebello (Bellingham, Mass.) all earning spots. The Leopard's Andrew Elliott (Rockland, Mass.) complete the list of All-CCC honorees as the Third Team DH.