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Somerset, NJ - It’s eight straight for the Bulldogs on the diamond.

After an eighth consecutive first-place Northeast Conference regular season finish, Bryant pulled in multiple major individual baseball awards for the eighth year in a row.

Southpaw Steve Theetge (Syracuse, NY), the Bulldogs’ all-time wins (31) leader, snagged the NEC Pitcher of the Year honor while skipper Steve Owens reclaimed the NEC Coach of the Year award.

Meanwhile, Mount St. Mary’s and Fairleigh Dickinson ended decade-long droughts when it comes to the conference’s major awards program.

Becoming only the second man in Mount’s history to achieve the feat, senior shortstop Patrick Causa (Sinking Spring, PA) captured the NEC Player of the Year award. Former outfielder Shane Eyler was the lone other Mountaineer to ever hold the honor, doing so exactly 10 years ago in 2009.

First baseman Salvatore Monticciolo (Holmdel, NJ), a true freshman, became Fairleigh Dickinson’s first NEC Rookie of the Year award recipient since 2009 when second baseman Matt Holsman earned the accolade.

The Northeast Conference unveiled the major award winners along with two 13-member All-NEC Teams via Twitter on the eve of the annual conference tournament. A vote of the league's seven head coaches was used to determine the recipients of all honors.

All seven NEC members gained representation on the All-NEC Teams in some form. Bryant enjoyed a conference-best nine all-NEC selections, including seven first team honors.

Causa made the leap from all-NEC second team shortstop to NEC Player of the Year in the span of 12 months. Putting it all together for her senior season at the Mount, the Keystone State product topped the conference in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. He drew the second-most walks (39) amongst league leaders and his 68 hits ranked fourth overall. The right-handed swinging slugger finished the regular season as one of five NEC players to have hit at least 12 round-trippers this spring. Over the course of 23 NEC contests, Causa piled up 33 hits, walked 22 times and drove in 23 runs. He logged 17 extra-base hits, including nine dingers, against conference foes.

Theetge winds down a decorated collegiate career by becoming the first man in NEC history to twice win the Pitcher of the Year award. The four-time all-NEC starter has won 23 of 25 decisions against conference opponents during the regular season, including a 5-1 mark this spring. The senior southpaw pitched to the lowest overall ERA on the circuit this season while logging a league-high 89.0 innings. He fanned 82 batters while walking only 30 and did not surrender a single home run. The lefty limited opposing hitters to a conference-best .237 average against over the course of 14 starts. Theetge became Bryant's all-time leader in victories on May 16 with his 31st career win.

Monticicciolo had no trouble providing the type of power expected from a corner infelder. The true freshman accounted for the fourth-highest slugging percentage (.568) on the circuit. Starting 48 of 51 appearances, he batted .305 with 24 extra-base hits. His 13 dingers were tied for the second most in the conference. The Garden State-based slugger hit .330 while driving in 24 runs over the course of the Knights' 24-game NEC schedule. Monticciolo ended his rookie campaign with 46 RBI and 30 runs scored with the former number ranking seventh overall on the league leader board.

After guiding his club to a 38-18 record, including a 19-5 mark in conference contests, Owens became the lone man in league annals to win the NEC Coach of the Year award for a fifth time. Under his tutelege, Bryant has won 23 of 33 road games this spring. Owens' group has been responsible for one of the most profilic offensive campaign in league history. The Bulldogs set the NEC single-season record for home runs by blasting 81 long balls, 10 more than the previous conference high. The NEC leaders in both team batting average and ERA also set DI single-season program records for hits, runs scored and RBI.