Burlington, Vt. — Binghamton University won three of the four major awards handed out at the conference’s annual awards banquet Wednesday night. Junior third baseman Matthieu Bergeron took home the Len Harlow Award, given to the conference’s Player of the Year. Pitcher Scott Diamond was selected as the Rookie of the Year and head coach Tim Sinicki was selected as Coach of the Year. Sophomore hurler Adam Ottavino of Northeastern University was selected as the Pitcher of the Year. All voting was conducted by the conference’s head coaches.
All-Conference Teams
Bergeron, the first Bearcat baseball player to garner Player of the Year honors, leads America East in home runs (15), runs batted in (54), and slugging percentage (.659), while he is third in total bases (112).
Diamond ranks first in America East in shutouts (2) and fourth in complete games (4). The freshman ranks second on the Bearcats in wins (4), strikeouts (54) and innings pitched (60.2).
Sinicki has led Binghamton to its first America East Championship berth and the No. 4 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. Now in his 13th season at Binghamton, Sinicki has guided Binghamton to a 23-24 overall record and a 12-8 mark in the conference. The 12 conference wins are a school record, and marks the first winning regular season since joining the America East in 2002.
Ottavino is 7-4 with a 3.06 earned run average. He leads America East in strikeouts (101), is third in opponent’s batting average (.215), and leads the conference in innings pitched (88.1). In confence games, Ottavino leads the league with a flawless 6-0 record, a 1.96 ERA and an impressive .182 oppsoing batting average.
Ottavino is joined on the all-conference first team by juniors Chris Blazek (starter) and Chris Marsh (reliever) of Vermont at pitcher. Blazek leads America East in strikeouts per nine innings (12.86), while ranking third in strikeouts (91), is tied for second in shutouts (1), and is eighth in ERA (3.25). He also ranks fifth in the conference in batting average against (.226). Marsh led the Catamount pitching staff with 19 appearances, allowing only 26 baserunners in 23 innings of work. He currently ranks third in America East with a school-record six saves and in his nine conference appearances he allowed only one earned run. Senior Aaron Izaryk of Maine is the first-team catcher. Izaryk, now a four-time all-conference selection, is batting .325 with 14 doubles and 26 RBI’s.
Joining Bergeron on the first-team infield are sophomore first baseman Brendon Hitchcock of Binghamton, sophomore Steve Wyland of Albany at second base, and senior Matt Devins of Stony Brook, a four-time all-conference selection at shortstop. Hitchcock leads America East in batting (.406), on-base percentage (.490), while racking up 71 hits in 48 games. He leads the Bearcats in doubles (12), walks (26), while he is second on the team in steals, swiping 11 bases in 14 chances. Wyland is tied for fourth in America East in batting average (.357). He leads the Great Danes in runs scored (36), while picking up 51 hits and 25 walks. He’s also getting on base at a .450 clip. Devins is hitting .357 with 37 RBI’s and 39 runs. He has collected 71 hits, 23 of which have gone for extra bases.
The first-team outfield consists of seniors Jeff Heriot of Northeastern and Andrew Larsen of Stony Brook, and junior also Chris Emanuele of Northeastern. Heriot, a first-team selection in 2004, ranks second on the Huskies with a .331 average, blasting six homers while driving in 34 runs. He ranks second in America East in doubles (17), and third in triples (3) and slugging percentage (.592). Larsen leads the conference in hits (79, 1.55 per game), doubles (25), and total bases (114). He’s also hitting .367 with two homers, two triples and 45 runs scored. Emanuele, a second-team all-conference selection in 2003, is batting .340. He leads America East in runs (47), and ranks second in homers (10), total bases (113) and stolen bases (17).
Junior Isidro Fortuna of Stony Brook was chosen the first-team designated hitter. Fortuna is ranked in the top-10 in eight offensives categories. He ranks second in walks (27) and OBP (.460), is tied for third in RBI’s (37), tied for fourth in doubles (15) and batting average (.357), and ranks 9th and 10th in slugging percentage (.536) and total bases (90) respectively.
The second team pitching staff includes starters Steve Richard, a sophomore at Maine, and senior Derek Miller of Vermont, and senior reliever Shawn Ryan of Albany. Junior Matt Morizio of Northeastern is the second-team catcher.
The second-team infield consists of senior Kyle Wildasin of UMBC at first base, sophomore second baseman Matt Simek of Binghamton, while senior Tim Bush and junior Arman Sidhu of Northeastern round out the infield at third base and shortstop, respectively.
Senior Keith Ford of Binghamton, junior Ryan Quintal of Maine, and freshman Joe Fowler of UMBC are the second-team outfielders. The second-team designated hitter is senior Greg Creek of Maine.
Joining Fowler on the all-rookie team are pitchers Diamond, Kris Dabrowiecki of Northeastern, Tom Koehler of Stony Brook, and Joe Serafin of Vermont, Adam Bowser of Hartford and Curt Smith of Maine at third base, and outfielders Mike Lyon of Northeastern and Kyle Massie of Vermont.
Eight of the 12 first-team all-conference choices and nine of the second-team selections are in action this Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the America East Baseball Championship. The double-elimination event begins with No. 1 Northeastern versus No. 4 Binghamton at 3:30 p.m., followed by No. 2 Maine at No. 3 Vermont at 7 p.m. Friday’s schedule includes three games with the first to begin at 12 noon. The championship game is slated for Saturday at 12 noon with a game to follow, if necessary. All games will be played at Centennial Field on the University of Vermont campus.