UMass-Lowell Baseball: Two players earn All-New England Honors

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Upon finishing the 2017 baseball season, the UMass-Lowell baseball team received a couple of honors that should bode well as the team starts preparing for the 2018 campaign and their first year of postseason play. Chris Sharpe and Colby Maiola earned second and third team honors in the just released All-New England baseball team.

Sharpe ended his year as a second team member, despite missing the final third of the season due to injury. He still put up some impressive number with the bat hitting .333 with 44 hits and 25 RBI batting in the middle of the River Hawks order. He hit seven home runs and tied for the team lead with 16 doubles. He also led the team in triples with four and in total bases with 89. His on-base percentage was .432 and his slugging pct. ended at .685. To say he was missed in that lineup would be a correct statement to make. It was not just his offense the River Hawks missed as he plays solid outfield for the team as well. He picked up four assists in the outfield and had a .978 fielding percentage. He enjoyed a season-best 20 games straight of reaching base and had 12 multi–hit games.

His outfield partner Cody Maiola was named to the third team for his play this spring. He led the team in batting with a .331 average, which included 56 hits, 14 stolen bases and 36 runs batted in. He belted six home runs and ended his season with 88 total bases. He posted a .521 slugging and .406 on-base pct. He was responsible for the team’s lone grand slam home run this spring while accounting for 16 multi-hit games and 11 multi-RBI games. Maiola was also named America East player of the week during the conference year. He also was named third team All-America East as well.

Combined, these two players supplied most of the offense for the River Hawks this campaign. They were at the top of 10 of 13 Offensive categories this spring, and are the first players selected for this honor since 2015.