AMCC LANDS NINE ON D3BASEBALL ALL-REGION TEAM
Eight AMCC baseball players were recognized this week when the D3baseball.com All-Region 7 teams were announced.
Eight AMCC baseball players were recognized this week when the D3baseball.com All-Region 7 teams were announced.
Hilbert College racked up the most with three -- Thomas Evans, Brendan Walsh, and Patrick Whelan -- as Evans and Walsh were named to the All-Region 7 First Team, while Whelan garnered a spot on the third team. The AMCC Player of the Year, Alfred State College's Nick Serce, Newcomer of the Year, Pitt-Greensburg's James Domer, as well as Mount Aloysius College's Tyler Quade earned spots on the All-Region Second Team. Penn State Altoona's Tyreke Green, Penn State Behrend's Mac Ciocco, and Alfred State's Caden Fortunato were named to the Third Team.
Evans led the AMCC in plate appearances (201), Runs (59), Total Bases (130), Extra Base Hits (34), and Stolen Bases (16). During the 14-AMCC regular season league schedule, Evans led the AMCC in Batting Average (.463), Slugging Percentage (.944), Extra Base hits (15), and Fielding Percentage (1.000). The 6-5 OF finished second in home runs (12), third in RBI (49) and fourth in hits (67) while posting an impressive 1.315 OPS. Evans established single season records for Hilbert baseball in slugging percentage, at bats, runs, home runs, total bases, games played and started and most walks. In just two years as a Hawk, Evans graduates as the program's leader in batting average (.402), slugging percentage (.723), on-base percentage (.498) and home runs (15).
Walsh made 22 appearances in relief for the Hawks and concluded his junior champagne with 11 saves, the second highest number in NCAA Division III this season, and the most in the AMCC baseball season history. The RHP led the AMCC in saves and appearances, and he worked a streak of 13 consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run, stretching from February 26th though April 10th. Walsh closed the year with a 4-0 record and did not allow an earned run in 15 of his 19 appearances including 14-shutout appearances. Walsh's 11 saves, 22 appearances and 18 games finished shattered Hilbert Baseball single season records. With one season left in his collegiate career, Walsh is currently the Hawks all-time lead in lowest opponent batting average (.268), most saves (14), and most games finished (14).
Whelan led the AMCC in Triples (6), and led the league overall and during the 14-game league schedule in Sacrifice Flies (6/2)), and RBI (61/17), which rank him second in the AMCC RBI All-Time single season record book. He finished his final collegiate season ranked second in hits, and extra base hits (31) and third in doubles, home runs, hit by pitch as well as fourth in batting average and slugging percentage. Whelan established Hilbert single season records in hits (68), RBI, intentional walks (6), hit by pitch (13), sac flies (6), most putouts (298), most games played and started (44) in addition to most triples (6). After transferring to Hilbert at the start of his junior campaign, Whelan became the program's all-time leader in RBI (93), and triples (8) in two short years.
Serce hit .408 this season with a slugging percentage of .904 and finished the regular season third in the nation for homeruns with 17. He broke the conference and Alfred State record for single-season homeruns, and is also the all-time leader at Alfred State in homeruns. Serce tallied 11 doubles and 43 RBI during the regular season, recording 51 hits, with over half of them being for extra bases. He fielded 1.000 at 1B in conference play this season.
Domer batted .446 in conference play this season. He was the Bobcats second hitter for the entire season and drove in a team-high 53 runs, a program record for RBI in a season. Domer connected on four home runs this season, one in conference play. He recorded 27 extra base hit, with 10 of those coming in conference play.
Quade finished the season ranked second nationally in batting average, as he hit at a .496 clip. Quade's batting average led the AMCC, as he hit more than 25 points higher than the second best hitter. In addition to his average, Quade ranked in the conference's top five in doubles, triples, total bases, stolen bases, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. He also finished atop the AMCC list with 69 hits on the season.
Ciocco ranked third in the conference in overall batting average .443 and was fourth in conference-only games with a .444 clip. He ranked first in the conference in on-base percentage .571 and was second in walks in AMCC action. Ciocco finished the regular season second on the team in overall RBI (28), doubles (8) and was third in hits (39).
Green had a breakout season in his sophomore campaign for Altoona, when he played in 27 games and made 21 starts before suffering an injury during the AMCC postseason tournament. He hit .400 this season with a .464 on-base percentage and a .680 slugging percentage. Among all AMCC hitters in categories in which he qualified, Green was fifth in stolen bases (13), seventh in sacrifice hits (4), and 10th in home runs (4). In the field, he ranked 20th in fielding percentage (.984) while tallying a pair of outfield assists.
Fortunato quickly established himself as the go-to reliever for the Pioneers. All of Fortunato's innings came in close games and were in crucial situations. Caden amassed 24 innings and tallied 16 k's. He did not allow an earned run in AMCC regular season play and had a regular season ERA of under 2 at 1.88. He only allowed five earned runs and 20 hits.