Maybach, Cirella take major awards; Seahawks with 12 All-CCC honorees
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) announced its 2017 Baseball All-Conference Teams and major award winners Thursday afternoon. Eight of the nine CCC schools were represented on this year's All-Conference list. CCC Regular-Season Champion, Salve Regina led the way with 11 honorees.
Endicott claimed two of the major awards as Mike Kochiss (Fairfield, Conn.) was the CCC Player of the Year for the second straight season and his teammate Kevin Gould (Rollinsford, N.H.) was named Pitcher of the Year. Salve Regina pitcher Patrick Maybach (Saunderstown, R.I.) took home Rookie of the Year honors and Western New England's Daniel Morin (Salem, N.H.) was named the Senior Scholar-Athlete. Seahawks head coach Eric Cirella was voted Coach of the Year and Gordon was given 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.
Kochiss, Gould, and Morin were all All-CCC First-Team selections, with Kochiss earning the nod at shortstop, Gould being selected as a starting pitcher, and Morin being named the First-Team first baseman. Two other starting pitchers, Curry's David Griffin (Hanover, Mass.) and Salve's Cory Poplawski (Syracuse, N.Y.) were also recognized on the First Team. Poplawski's teammate, Christian Vargas (Melbourne, Fla.) was picked as the First Team catcher. Joining Morin and Kochiss in the First Team infield are Nichols second baseman Cam Cook (Phoenixville, Pa.) and the Seahawks' Colton Eremian (Boca Raton, Fla.) at third. Patrolling the First Team outfield were Gordon's Dean Demers (Sandy Hook, Conn.), Nichols's Nick Roy (Middletown, Conn.), and Western New England's Ben LaCroix (Branford, Conn.). Tyler Weninger (Chandler, Ariz.) from Wentworth was the First Team DH and Will Bryant (Cumberland, Maine) from Endicott was selected at relief pitcher.
Maybach was one of three starting pitchers selected to the Second Team. Also earning Second Team honors were Maybach's teammate Jimmy Fitzgerald (Canton, Mass.) and Western New England's Bob Hamel (Southwick, Mass.). They would deal to Second Team catcher Chris Bosco (North Andover, Mass.) from Roger Williams. The Second Team infield was comprised of a pair of Seahawks in first baseman Alex Perry (North Attleboro, Mass.) and shortstop Hunter Sleeper (Arlington, Mass.), plus Endicott second baseman Michael DeDonato (Chelmsford, Mass.) and WNE third baseman Jared Rosenblatt (Avon, Conn.). Two more Seahawks were Second Team selections in the outfield as Dylan Ketch (Clinton, Conn.) and Zack Smith (New Canaan, Conn.) were both recognized. They were joined by Endicott's Nick Berno (St. Albans, Vt.). The designated hitter on the Second Team was the Golden Bears' Aaron Rios (Stratford, Conn.), while Nichols's Kevin Kirley (Clinton, Mass.) was the relief pitcher.
There were 13 players named as Third Team All-CCC honorees. Three of them were starting pitchers with Danny Hayden (East Greenwich, R.I.) from Nichols, Ryan Obin (Plymouth, Mass.) from Wentworth, and Nick Quattro (Canton, Conn.) all being honored. The four-person infield was made up of first baseman Kyle Bouchard (Fall River, Mass.) from Nichols, second baseman John Militano (Miller Place, N.Y.) from Salve Regina, third baseman Jordan Burst (Jackson, N.J.) from Wentworth, and shortstop Alex Loparco (Riverside, Conn.) from Western New England. Nichols sophomore Andrew Doll (Plantation, Fla.) was the Third Team catcher. The three Third Team outfielders were Endicott's Michael Casciano (Somers, Conn.), Salve Regina's Brody Santilli (Lincoln, R.I.), and Roger Williams's Justin Stone (Blackstone, Mass.). Endicott graduate student Anthony Serina (Portsmouth, R.I.) was named the Third Team designated hitter and WNE's Jacques Boilard (Brimfield, Mass.) was the relief pitcher.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Patrick Maybach, Salve Regina
Maybach had an outstanding season for the Seahawks on the mound as the freshman southpaw finished the regular season with a 0.91 ERA, while going 6-0 with one save in seven appearances. Both his ERA and win total were the best in the conference. He also struck out 44 batters ranking him sixth in the CCC. Maybach also ranks in the top 10 nationally in ERA (0.91, fourth) and WHIP (0.83, seventh). In five of his appearances (three starts) the first-year hurler did not allow a run. He was CCC Rookie of the Week on two occasions and CCC Pitcher of the Week once. Maybach was also the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association (NCBWA) National Pitcher of the Week for the week ending March 12. In addition to Rookie of the Year, he earns a nod as a Second Team starting pitcher.
COACH OF THE YEAR
Eric Cirella, Salve Regina
Cirella and the Seahawks not only dominated in Conference play this year, but were also strong regionally and nationally. He led his team to a 30-9 overall record, while going 14-2 in conference. In the most recent national polls, Salve ranked No. 15 in the Collegiate Baseball/ACBA Poll and No. 20 in the D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25. The team was at the top of conference leaderboards in a virtually every category including hits (390), runs (248), doubles (62), RBI (216), batting average (.314), on-base percentage (.401), slugging percentage (.394), ERA (3.47), and opponents' batting average (.234). The Seahawks also ranked eighth nationally in strikeouts per nine innings (9.0) and eleventh in stolen bases (92).
Visit the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) site for complete details.