Six America East baseball student-athletes named to American Baseball Coaches Associate All-Region Teams, the organization announced Wednesday. Binghamton's Reed Gamache was the lone first team selection, while teammate Mike Bunal was named to the second team along with Hartford's David MacKinnon, Ben Bengtson and Erik Ostberg and UMBC's Kevin Lachance.
Bengtson, who collected First Team All-America East honors, posted one of the top seasons by a shortstop in program history, as the sophomore delivered a league-best 51 RBI on the season, including 25 in his 22 conference games. He finished fourth in the conference with a .540 slugging percentage, in addition to finishing third in the league in triples and fifth in total bases.
MacKinnon, who was named the America East Player of the Year, led the conference in hitting (.392) this season, while also finding himself in the top 10 in slugging (.544, 3rd), on-base percentage (.471, 1st), runs (56, 2nd) and doubles (15, 4th). He broke his own single-season record with 85 hits, a total that led the league. Also a standout in the classroom, he was a First Team CoSIDA Academic All-America selection with his 3.94 GPA in accounting.
Ostberg, who was named First Team All-New England and Second Team All-America East earlier this year, played principally at designated hitter while being among the league's leaders in batting average. His .340 average placed him eighth in the conference, while he ranked among the league leaders in on-base percentage (.444, 5th), runs (42, 6th), runs batted in (47, T-2nd) and hits (67, 6th). A communication major, he held a 3.34 cumulative GPA heading into the season and was a CoSIDA Academic All-District selection.
By virtue of his first team selection, Gamache was deemed the top second baseman in the 39-team region, which includes teams from the ACC, Big East, Atlantic 10 and CAA among nine total conferences. He becomes the fifth Bearcat to make the Division I first team. Bunal's selection gave the Bearcats multiple honorees for the fourth time in the last eight years.
Gamache hit .366 and drove in 46 runs - both tops among the region's second basemen. He had 74 hits, which ranks third all-time in BU's season records. He compiled 22 extra-base hits and ranked among the top-four in the America East in on-base percentage (.452), slugging (.545), home runs (7), doubles (15), RBI and hits. Gamache had a 17-game hit streak midway through the spring (second-best in school history) and finished his career by reaching base in 27 consecutive games. He hit .431 over the last two months of the season. Gamache closed out his four-year career with 172 hits and 101 RBI.
Bunal, who was selected in the 17th round by Colorado in the MLB Draft on Saturday, was one of six starting pitchers named to the all-region teams. He capped his career with a stellar senior season in 2016, earning America East Pitcher of the Year honors. Bunal broke the school record with 87 strikeouts in 89.2 innings of work and also tied a record with eight wins. He led the America East in wins, innings pitched, complete games and opposing batting average (.214). His five complete games ranked eighth in the entire nation.
Lachance adds to his accolades this year, as he was named to the America East All-Conference First Team in May, and earned ECAC All-Second Team honors last week. Lachance is the program leader in stolen bases in a single season, as well as a career. He finished his final campaign with a .373 average with team bests with 204 at bats, 76 hits, 50 runs scored and 28 stolen bases. He played in every game as a Retriever in his four-year career. He was selected in the 10th round of the MLB Draft by the Dodgers.