2016 Baseball Final Report

7/9/2016 4:57:56 PM

Rob Washburn

CAA BASEBALL FINAL REPORT (PDF format)

FIVE CAA PLAYERS EARN ALL-AMERICA HONORS: Five CAA baseball players received All-America recognition from a variety of organizations. UNCW catcher Nick Feight was named to six All-America squads, including first-team honors from Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball. UNCW infielder Brian Mims was chosen to four teams and got first-team accolades from the NCBWA and ABCA. Seahawks’ pitcher Ryan Foster also made four teams, highlighted by a second-team nod from the NCBWA. Elon infielder Nick Zammarelli and Northeastern pitcher Aaron Civale both received third-team All-America honors from Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball.

CAA HAS SIX FRESHMEN ALL-AMERICANS: Six CAA players were honored as Freshmen All-Americans. Towson infielder Richie Palacios was named to four different squads, including first-team honors from the NCBWA. He was also joined on the Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball team by Delaware’s Kyle Baker, Nick Patten and Brandon Walter, CofC’s Dupree Hart and UNCW’s Alex Royalty.

W&M, UNCW REACH NCAA REGIONAL FINALS: William & Mary and UNCW turned in impressive performances at the NCAA Baseball Championship, with each team posting a 2-2 record and advancing to the regional finals. The Tribe rebounded from an opening game loss to host Virginia in the Charlottesville Regional by eliminating Bryant (4-3) and the defending national champion Cavaliers (5-4). W&M fell to East Carolina, but had three players named to the All-Regional team - Ryder Miconi, Ryan Hall and Nick Brown. UNCW opened with consecutive victories over Duke (11-1) and Rhode Island (11-7) before dropping back-to-back games to host South Carolina in the Columbia Regional. The Seahawks had Zack Canada, Brian Mims, Kennard McDowell and Robbie Thorburn honored on the All-Regional squad. It was the 12th time in the past 19 years and the third time in four seasons that the CAA placed multiple teams in the NCAA Tournament. In 16 of those seasons, a CAA team has won at least one game in the Regionals.

W&M RALLIES TO WIN CAA BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: William & Mary captured its second CAA Baseball Championship with a 14-9 victory over #1 UNCW. It was the first CAA title since 2001 for the 2nd-seeded Tribe, which reeled off four consecutive wins after losing their opening game in the tournament. Josh Smith went 3-for-5 and drove in a career-high seven runs, highlighted by an 8th-inning grand slam that snapped a 9-9 tie. W&M’s Hunter Smith was 3-for-3 with three RBI’s and Cullen Large and Charles Ameer each had a pair of hits. UNCW jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on back-to-back homers from Nick Feight and Casey Golden, but the Tribe used a five-run third inning to take a 7-4 lead. The Seahawks battled back to tie the contest at 9-9 on Feight’s sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth, but W&M loaded the bases with three walks in the bottom of the frame, setting the stage for Josh Smith’s grand slam.

QUITE A COMEBACK: Prior to reaching the CAA championship game, William & Mary staged an amazing comeback to hand UNCW its first loss in the tournament. The Tribe trailed 8-1 entering the ninth inning, but scored seven times to tie the contest. Rain from Tropical Storm Bonnie halted the game in the top of the 10th, and the teams didn’t resume play until 27.5 hours later. The game remained even until the 12th when Cullen Large blasted a solo homer to give W&M a 9-8 victory. It was the first time all season that the Tribe had overcome a ninth-inning deficit.

TRIBE’S SMITH NAMED MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER: William & Mary senior outfielder Josh Smith was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2016 CAA Baseball Championship after batting .409 (9-22) with two doubles, a triple, a homer and 10 RBI’s over five games. He was joined on the all-tournament team by Tribe teammates Charles Ameer, Dan Powers and Hunter Smith. UNCW was represented by Zack Canada, Ryan Foster, Steven Linkous and Gavin Stupienski. Rounding out the squad were Northeastern’s David Hopkins and Aaron Civale along with CofC’s Bailey Ober and Tommy Richter.

UNCW’S FEIGHT HEADLINES ALL-CAA AWARDS: UNCW sophomore catcher Nick Feight was chosen as the CAA baseball Player of the Year after posting one of the most impressive seasons offensively of any player in the nation. Feight, who was a semifinalist for the NCBWA Dick Howser Trophy, batted .349 with 24 doubles, 21 homers and a school-record 91 RBI’s. Sharing CAA Pitcher of the Year honors were Northeastern junior Aaron Civale (9-3, 1.73 ERA, school-record 121 strikeouts) and UNCW senior Ryan Foster (13-2, 2.46 ERA, 69 K’s). Rookie of the Year went to Towson second baseman Richie Palacios, who batted .329 with a team-high 55 runs scored and a school-record 32 stolen bases. Northeastern senior catcher Josh Treff was selected as the Defensive Player of the Year after committing only five errors behind the plate and throwing out 24 of 65 base runners who attempted to steal on him. UNCW’s Mark Scalf was chosen as the CAA Coach of the Year for the seventh time, which is the most of any skipper in conference history.

CAA PLACES 11 ON ALL-REGION TEAMS: Eleven CAA players received All-Region honors from the ABCA. NU’s Aaron Civale made the Northeast Region first team, while UNCW’s Nick Feight, Gavin Stupienski, Brian Mims, Steven Linkous and Ryan Foster and Delaware’s Jordan Glover made the East Region first team. On the East Region second team were W&M’s Charley Gould and Cullen Large, Towson’s Brady Policelli and UNCW’s Robbie Thorburn. In addition, UNCW’s Mark Scalf was chosen as the East Region Coach of the Year.

CAA TEAMS AMONG NCAA STAT LEADERS: CAA regular-season champion UNCW ranked 2nd in Division I in scoring (8.4 rpg), 3rd in homers (87), 8th in batting average (.320), 2nd in slugging percentage (.517) and 20th in on base percentage (.398). William & Mary ranked 20th in doubles (129) and Towson was 13th in triples (23) and 22nd in steals (93). Northeastern was 13th nationally in fielding percentage (.978) and 21st in shutouts (7).

CAA INDIVIDUALS AMONG NCAA STAT LEADERS: UNCW catcher Nick Feight led the nation in RBI’s (91) and ranked 2nd in home runs (21), 4th in slugging percentage (.726) and 9th in doubles (24). JMU’s Ky Parrott was 4th in walks (61), Elon’s Nick Zammarelli was 9th in doubles (24), UNCW’s Steven Linkous is 1st in runs (78) and 9th in hits (95), while Seahawks’ teammate Brian Mims was 7th in hits (96) 3rd in runs (71). Towson’s Richie Palacios was 10th in steals (32) and teammate Brady Policelli was 12th in on base percentage (.502). On the mound, NU’s Aaron Civale ranked10th in ERA (1.73), 14th in strikeouts (121) and 5th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.07).

12 CAA PLAYERS CHOSEN IN MLB DRAFT: The CAA had 12 players chosen in the 2016 Major League Baseball Draft. Headlining the group was NU pitcher Aaron Civale, who was chosen in the 3rd round (92nd overall) by the Cleveland Indians. Other selections were UNCW pitcher Tyler Hyssong (8th rd./229) by the Atlanta Braves, Elon IF/OF Nick Zammarelli (8th rd./237) by the Seattle Mariners, Northeastern P Dustin Hunt (10th rd./307) by the Houston Astros, UNCW C Gavin Stupienski (12th rd.) by the Arizona Diamondbacks, Towson IF Brady Policelli (13th rd.) by the Detroit Tigers, Elon P Chris Hall (14th rd.) by the Toronto Blue Jays, CofC IF/OF Bradley Jones (18th rd.) by the Toronto Blue Jays, UNCW OF Steven Linkous (22nd rd.) by the Colorado Rockies, UNCW P Jared Gesell (23rd rd.) by the Coloardo Rockies, CofC P Bailey Ober (23rd rd.) by the Los Angeles Dodgers and W&M 1B Charley Gould (26th rd.) by the Oakland A’s.