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Somerset, NJ -- Winning NEC Baseball Player of the Year awards is what they do, and this year was no different for Bryant.
 
The Bulldogs have now produced the NEC Player of the Year for the fifth time in the last six seasons with the anointment of senior outfielder Matt Woods (Warwick, RI/Pilgrim) as the league’s top player in voting conducted by the league’s head coaches.
 
LIU senior ace Joshua Loeschorn (Butler, NJ/Butler) was tabbed the NEC Pitcher of the Year, breaking Bryant’s streak of seven straight hurlers honored with the award.
 
CCSU freshman southpaw Vincent Spizzoucco (Southington, CT/Southington) stepped right into the Blue Devil rotation and earned the program its second straight NEC Rookie of the Year honor.
 
The NEC Coach of the Year accolade went to LIU’s Dan Pirillo, who led the Sharks to their first regular season title since the 2000 season.
 
Woods has had a dominant campaign at the dish and leads the NEC in a variety of statistical categories. The Warwick, RI native ranks first on the circuit in hitting (.389), hits (75), triples (seven, which ranks third nationally), total bases (127), slugging percentage (.658) and OPS (1.122), and second in on-base percentage (.464). The senior also racked up 41 runs, 48 RBIs, 17 doubles and seven homers. Woods has reached base safely in 21 of his last 22 games and has 24 multi-hit games on the year heading into the postseason, which begins on Thursday with a matchup against CCSU at the NEC Tournament. Woods, who was named NEC Player of the Week on April 19, joined Kevin Brown (2013), Robby Rinn (2016), Mickey Gasper (2017), Ryan Ward (2018) and Liam McGill (2021) as Bryant’s sixth NEC Player of the Year since 2013. 
 
A two-time NEC Pitcher of the Week, Loeschorn went 10-2 from the mound to help boost the Sharks to the regular season crown. The 6-foot-3 righty paced the conference and ranks second nationally in wins. He is also first in the NEC with 90 strikeouts, 87.1 innings pitched and a .219 opponent batting average. Loeschorn, who hails from Butler, NJ, has posted a 3.09 ERA, which is good for third in the league, and in allowing just 73 hits and 25 walks, compiled a stellar 1.12 WHIP. He registered a season-high 15 strikeouts in a win over Iona in March, a figure that ties him for seventh on the NCAA single-game list this season. Loeschorn, who enters the postseason red-hot having allowed just one earned run over his last 17 innings on the hill, is LIU’s third-ever NEC Pitcher of the Year, joining former Sharks Rich Hartmann (1994) and Kevin Miller (2000).
 
Spizzoucco made an immediate impact in the CCSU rotation, winning four NEC Rookie of the Week awards and one NEC Pitcher of the Week honor this season. Overall, the freshman from Southington, CT went 6-2 in 14 appearances, striking out 54 in 52.1 innings while posting a 3.44 ERA. He ranks third in the NEC in wins, fifth in ERA and sixth in strikeouts, and also added three saves. By year’s end, five of his six wins came against NEC opponents. Spizzoucco followed in the footsteps of current teammate and fellow southpaw Jake Neuman, who won this same honor last season. Tim D’Aquila (2001) and Phil Rothkugel (2002) were also CCSU products who earned the NEC’s top rookie distinction.
 
An LIU baseball alum, Pirillo played under coach Don Maines from 2005-08. Maines himself was voted the NEC Coach of the Year in 2011, and 11 years later he followed in those footsteps after guiding the Sharks to their first NEC regular season title in 22 years. LIU finished the season with an 18-9 mark in league play and enter the NEC Championship as the top seed in its quest for the program’s second tournament crown. Frank Giannone was also a recipient of this award for LIU back in 1990.
 
AWARD WINNER HIGHLIGHTS
 
CCSU had a league-high seven players make All-NEC teams, followed by five apiece from Bryant and LIU, and four from FDU.
 
Of the four repeat honorees on All-NEC teams, three came from CCSU. Senior catcher and second teamer Sam Loda (East Haven, CT/East Haven) was a first team award winner in 2021, while junior first baseman Noah Martinez (New Milford, CT/The Hotchkiss School) and junior second baseman Dan Covino (Weston, CT/Weston) were elevated from the second team. Loda hit .306 with four homers and 28 RBIs, and ranks seventh in the NEC with a .440 on-base percentage. He also threw out 14 would-be base stealers and posted a .994 fielding percentage on the year. Martinez brought power and production to the CCSU lineup, as evidenced by his 14 homers and 59 RBIs, both league-leading figures. He also ranks second in the conference with a .611 slugging percentage and is fifth nationally with 1.40 RBIs per game. Covino stands among league leaders in a host of categories, including batting average (.337, sixth), RBIs (52, second), doubles (18, first), on-base percentage (.454, fifth) and slugging percentage (.595, third).
 
Bryant senior second baseman Jake Gustin (Peabody, MA/Peabody Veteran Memorial) made his second All-NEC appearance, landing on the second team after picking up first team plaudits a year ago. Gustin is hitting .302 with five homers, 19 RBIs and seven stolen bases on the year.
 
Bryant has had at least three players named to the All-NEC first team every season since 2012.
 
FDU’s four All-NEC honorees were the most for the program since 2016. Senior third baseman Hunter D’Amato (Coral Springs, FL/American Heritage High School) and George Rosales (Ashburn, VA/Briar Woods) were the two Knights to make the All-NEC first team. D’Amato is sixth in the NEC with 41 RBIs, while Rosales is the league leader with a .474 on-base percentage, in part to being being hit-by-pitch 19 times, a total that ranks 21st in the nation.
 
Bryant ace Collin Lowe (Ridgefield, CT/Ridgefield), a transfer from Richmond, is the current NEC leader in ERA (2.82) and WHIP (1.02), and ranks second with 74 strikeouts. The All-NEC first team righty posted a 4-1 mark against league rivals.
 
The league’s top reliever was CCSU sophomore righthander Luke Garofalo (Middlefield, CT/Coginchaug Regional (Bryant)).  Garofalo was lights out coming out of the pen with a 4-1 record, three saves and a 1.46 ERA over 17 appearances. He fanned 50 in 37 innings.
 
Junior shortstop Alex Haba (Franklin, MA/Franklin) became the first Merrimack player to collect first team All-NEC honors. He leads the Warriors with a .360 average, good for second on the circuit. Haba is also third in the conference in hits (68) and doubles (16), fourth in on-base percentage (.455), fifth in runs (45) and eighth in slugging percentage (.545).
 
LIU speedster Michael Edelman (New York, NY/Eleanor Roosevelt (Emory)), a graduate student outfielder, was named to the first team. His 26 stolen bases (in 30 attempts) ranks second in the NEC, and he is also in the top-five in runs (52, first), hits 69, second), triples (three, third) and total bases (104, fourth).
 
NEC sluggers Dante Faicchio (Laguna Beach, CA/Laguna Beach (Irvine Valley/Pepperdine)) and EJ Exposito (Central Islip, NY/St. John the Baptist (New York Tech)) also picked up All-NEC accolades. Faicchio, a first team outfielder from Wagner, is tied for third in the conference with 12 dingers. Exposito, a second team shortstop out of LIU, is the second-leading slugger with 13 round trippers.
 
About The Northeast Conference
Now in its 41st season, the Northeast Conference is an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic association consisting of 10 institutions of higher learning located throughout seven states. Media coverage of the NEC extends to a number of the largest markets in the United States including New York (#1), Boston (#9), Baltimore (#26), Hartford/New Haven (#33) and Providence (#53). Founded in 1981 as the basketball-only ECAC Metro Conference, the NEC has grown to sponsor 24 championship sports for men and women and now enjoys automatic access to 16 different NCAA Championships. NEC member institutions in 2022-23 will include Central Connecticut, Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Merrimack, Mount St. Mary’s, Sacred Heart, St. Francis Brooklyn, Saint Francis U, Stonehill and Wagner. For more information on the NEC, visit the league’s official website official website (www.northeastconference.org) and digital network (www.necfrontrow.com), or follow the league on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, all @NECsports.