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Somerset, NJ - Veterans Ryan Terry (Levittown, PA/Truman) and Nick Meyers (East Brunswick, NJ/East Brunswick) spearheaded Monmouth’s first-place regular season showing and the Northeast Conference recognized their efforts at Thursday’s night awards banquet, which precedes the start of the league’s 19th annual championship baseball tournament.  Earning all-conference honors for the third time in four seasons, Terry received the NEC Player of the Year award.  Meyers, Monmouth’s ace lefty, claimed the NEC Pitcher of the Year award. 

 

Sacred Heart freshman Nick Leiningen (Millwod, NY/Horace Greely), also a lefty hurler, earned the NEC Pitcher of the Year award. The last of the league’s four major postseason accolades, the NEC Coach of the Year award, went to Long Island’s Don Maines who has the Blackbirds in the postseason for the first time since the turn of the century.

 

Terry, Meyers, Leiningen, and Maines received their honors at Dodd Stadium on Thursday and will return to the ballpark on Friday, May 20 for the start of the 2011 Northeast Conference Baseball Championship.  Monmouth and defending champion Central Connecticut will open the four-team, double-elimination tournament in Game 1, slated for a 12:00 pm start.  In Game 2, Maines will lead his Blackbirds up against second-seeded Sacred Heart and its league-high seven all-NEC selections.

 

The members of the All-NEC First & Second Teams were also announced at the awards reception on the eve of the league’s 19^th annual baseball championship.  Nick Giaquinto’s Pioneers claimed three spots on the All-NEC First Team and four positions on the All-NEC Second Team to lead all of their conference rivals in terms of total selections.  NEC regular season winner Monmouth, which garnered five all-NEC selections in addition to the major honors bestowed upon Terry and Meyers, placed a league-high four Hawks on the First Team. 

 

All nine Northeast Conference baseball programs saw at least one of its own receive all-NEC recognition.

 

Terry burst onto the scene as the 2008 NEC Rookie of the Year and, whether it’s been at third base, second, or shortstop, he has been a mainstay in Dean Ehehalt’s lineup since.  He’ll be making his fourth career NEC Tournament appearance this weekend, but h is first as the NEC Player of the Year.  By earning the league’s highest individual honor, Terry has put an exclamation point on what has been one of the top-ranking careers in league history.  Joining former Monmouth great Jay Law, he became the second Hawk to have acquired both the NEC Player and Rookie of the Year awards and only the fourth man in league history to accomplish the feat. Terry, who has not missed a start in each of the past two season, will graduate Monmouth as the program’s all-time leader in hits (268) and doubles (66).  He has never batted under .320 in any season and has saved his best for last.  As a senior, Terry led all NEC players in slugging percentage (.595), hits (78), runs (52), and doubles (19). He hit .380, the league’s third-highest average, during the regular season while averaging 1.53 hits and slightly more than 1.00 run per game.  The Pennsylvania product set single-season career highs with 78 hits and 40 RBI (third in NEC) thus far in 2011.  Terry thrice earned the Akadema NEC Player of the Week award this season with the most-recent honor coming on May 9 after he logged eight hits and nine RBI in a series sweep of LIU.

 

Meyers won his first and last start of what was a fruitful regular season for the fifth-year senior.  The 6-foot-2 southpaw posted an 8-1 record over 12 starts while pitching to a 3.06 earned-run average.  Only two NEC hurlers threw more innings than Meyers and no NEC pitcher struck out more batters than Monmouth’s veteran lefty, who fanned 63 and allowed 78 hits in 79.1 innings this season.  The New Jersey product pitched to a 1.18 WHIP (walks-hits per inning pitcher) and surrendered just 12 extra-base hits.  Meyers opened his senior campaign by posting a 6-1 road victory over CAA member Virginia Commonwealth. Currently tied with all-NEC selection Troy Scribner of SHU for the league lead in wins (8) this season, Meyers’ lone loss came on March 4 when Florida Atlantic topped the Hawks, 8-4. 

 

Bouncing back in a big way, he’s gone 7-0 since that setback, highlighted by a remarkable run in Northeast Conference play.  Monmouth posted an 8-0 record when their No. 1 starter took the ball against a conference opponent.  He started all eight of the Hawks’ 9-inning NEC series openers and was the Pitcher of Record in six of those contests. He received two no-decisions, but left with his team in position to win on both occasions.  He exited his start against Wagner after 7.0 innings with the score tied 3-3 before his team plated a pair in the eighth inning for a 5-3 victory. Although he did not earn the victory against Garden State rival Fairleigh Dickinson, Meyers still gave the Hawks 5.0 innings in what was his shortest league start of the season and left Monmouth’s eventual 11-10 win with a one-run lead.

 

Leiningen, a crafty lefty-hander who also earned all-NEC second team honors, went 6-3 overall with a 4.02 ERA during his rookie campaign.  He was especially effective against NEC hitters, pitching to a 3.25 ERA as Sacred Heart Game 2 weekend starter.  Although all six of his victories came during league play, Leiningen flashed great potential early on in the season when the Pioneers traveled south to face SEC powers Mississippi State and Louisiana State. 

 

Combining for 10.0 innings in contests against LSU and Mississippi State, the rookie lefty surrendered only one earned run. The 6-foot-1 southpaw made his first collegiate start against LSU, which was the No. 8 ranked team in the USA Today Top 25 Coaches Poll at the time. Unfazed by the 9,765 in attendance at Box Stadium, Leiningen limited the Tigers to two hits over 6.0 innings. He left with the game with his team trailing 2-1 and wound up tough luck loser, having allowed two runs, only one of which was earned. Later in the week, Leiningen factored into the Pioneers’ victory over Mississippi State when he came out of the bullpen to toss 4.0 hitless innings and close out an 8-3 win for his first career save.

 

It appears LIU has turned the corner under Don Maines.  After residing in the bottom half of the NEC standings for much of the past decade, the Blackbirds spent some time in first place and were never lower than third during the 2011 campaign.  Maines and Co. set the program’s single-season record for overall victories (28) and will look to add to that total when they contest the NEC Tournament for the first time since 2000.

 

Terry (2B) and Meyers (SP) hold two of the 13 spots on the All-NEC First Team.  Terry, who has been the first team second baseman if each of past two years after second team honors at third in 2008, is enjoying his third all-NEC selection as is fellow Monmouth senior Nick Pulsonetti (Old Tappan, NJ/Northern Valley Regional) who occupies the designated hitter position. 

 

On the way to first team honors for the third time in four years, Pulsonetti made 47 starts for Monmouth and had 53 hits.  Eight of those hits left the ballpark as the Pulsonetti became Monmouth’s all-time home run leader (36) during a series-opening win over Mount St. Mary’s on May 12.  The 6-foot-1 designated hitter batted .331 and his .575 slugging percentage was second to only Terry in the NEC.  Pulsonetti ranked sixth amongst regular season league leaders in on-base percentage (.443).  He drove in 37 runs and scored another 39.

 

Rookie relief pitcher Andrew McGee (Toms River, NJ/TR South) rounded out the Hawks’ four first team selections.  The 6-foot southpaw pitched to a 2.09 ERA in 24 appearances, all coming out of the bullpen.  McGee saved six games as a freshman and posted a 5-2 record, including a 3-0 mark in NEC games.  His first career win came in the rubber game of Monmouth season-opening series win over VCU and was followed by a 5-3 win over A-10 member Saint Bonaventure 10 days later.  McGee struck out 31 batters and walked nine over 43.0 innings.

 

Long Island’s lone two all-NEC selections are both on the First Team in the form of battery mates Tyler Jones (Stewartsville, NJ/Phillipsburg) and Chris Franzese (Howard Beach, NY/Molloy).  Jones, a junior catcher, led the NEC batting race from wire to wire.  The offensive catalyst behind the Blackbirds’ resurgence, Jones started all 49 games and batted a league-high .434.  Jones ran away with the league lead in on-base percentage (.554) with his mark 99 percentage points higher than the second-place occupant.  His numbers were even more remarkable against NEC competition.  The 6-foot-1 backstop hit .455 and posted a .588 OBP as the Blackbirds went 19-11 in conference games.  Defensively, Jones did not allow a passed ball during league play, and was charged with just three of them the entire season.

 

Franzese was used as both a reliever and a starter during his sophomore campaign.  After picking up a win in relief over Big East member, and NYC rival, St. John’s, Franzese went on to start Game 1 of Long Island’s six remaining NEC series.  He pitched to a league-low 1.67 ERA against NEC opponents and posted a 6-1 conference record with his lone setback coming at the hands of Monmouth.  Overall, the right-handed side-arm slinging Franzese went 7-3 with a 3.84 ERA in 77.1 innings.  He allowed 54 hits and no home runs in 59.1 innings pitched against NEC batters.

 

The all-NEC first team first baseman once again hails from an NEC institution based in the State of Connecticut.  Sacred Heart junior Rob Griffith (Lake Ronkonkoma, NY/Sachem North) is the second Pioneer in the last three years to achieve first team stats as former batting champion Jeff Hanson won it in 2009 followed by Central Connecticut’s Tommy Meade in 2010.  Griffith batted .347 (sixth in NEC), a number that rose to .371 against league opponents, and logged 67 hits (5^th in NEC).  The 6-foot-2, 210-pound right-handed hitter tied for first amongst league leaders in RBI (43) and second in total bases (98).  He had 11 doubles, four triples, four homers, and 36 runs scored over 52 games.

 

The man with whom Griffith is tied for the NEC lead in RBI resides directly across the diamond on the All-NEC First Team.  Central Connecticut junior Mitch Wells (East Haddam, CT/Xavier) makes his second consecutive appearance as the first team all-NEC third basemen. The left-handed hitting Wells batted a team-high .377 and struck out only 17 times in 218 plate appearances.  His 72 hits rank third in NEC and his 43 RBI are tied for first.  Wells connected on 16 extra-base hits, including 12 doubles, and scored 34 runs in 49 starts.

 

Junior shortstop David Soltis (Plainville, CT/Plainville) gives Bryant representation on the First Team.  He started all of the Bulldogs’ 53 games on the way to a .348 batting average with 33 RBI and 34 runs scored.  Forty of his 62 hits came in NEC play as he batted .392 against league opponents.

 

Two-thirds of the all-NEC first team outfield hails from Sacred Heart. Graduate students JJ Edwards (Endwell, NY/Endwell) and Steve Tedesco (Mission Viejo, CA/Trabuco Hills) combined for 137 hits while roaming the outfield for the Pioneers this season.  The epitome of a contact hitter, Edwards struck out only 14 times in 196 at-bats on the way to a .388 average, which ranks second amongst league leaders.  Edwards’ 76 base-knocks rank second in the NEC, trailing only Ryan Terry’s 78 hits.  He had 29 RBI and 38 runs in 52 games and did not make a single error in the field.

 

There aren’t many players more athletic than Tedesco who ranks amongst the top-5 all-time NEC Football leaders in every receiving category on the books. The former Academic All-American on the gridiron also does quite well for himself on the diamond where he .335 this season.  The speedy outfielder stole 14 bases and was caught just once.  Tedesco, who hails from southern California, logged 61 hits and 34 runs in 48 games.

 

Junior outfielder Jake Matuszak (Berlin, CT/Avery Point) gives CCSU a second first team selection.  The 5-foot-8, right-handed hitter batted .345 to help the Blue Devils return to the postseason for the sixth consecutive year.  He started all 31 of Central’s conference contests, recording 38 hits and scoring 23 runs over that span.  Matuszak also made some key plays on the defensive side as evidenced by his eight outfield assists.