America East Baseball: Bryant is the Preseason Pick

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With the college baseball season now nine days away, the America East Baseball Conference held its preseason picks for the upcoming season. The Bryant Bulldogs, fresh off winning the first league title last spring, have been picked to win the league again. They also placed five players on the preseason All-Conference team.

Bryant received 35 points and five first-place votes and Binghamton, chosen to finish second, got 30 points and two first-place votes. No other team in the conference received any first-place votes. Maine and NJIT tied for third with 21 points, UMass Lowell was fifth with 18 points, UMBC was sixth with 15 points, and UAlbany was seventh with 7 points.

The Bulldogs finished last season with a 17-7 league record and they return some experience from last year’s team that is getting some national attention. OF Gavin Noriega has been tabbed as the 33rd-best outfielder by D1Baseball.com. The America East Player of the Year from last season put together a great season for the Bulldogs. He set a single-season record for HRs with 18 and was in the Top 5 in six other offensive categories. He was second in slugging at .670, 3rd in on-base percentage at .468, 2nd in OPS at 1.138, 1st in runs scored with 59, 3rd in hits with 68, 3rd in RBI with 58, and 3rd in walks with 43. Noriega enters his final season having played 148 games. His numbers are impressive with 162 hits, 33 doubles, 25 home runs, 132 RBI, and a .912 OPS.

Second baseman Zac Zyons has been ranked as the 29th-best second baseman by D1Baseball.com. He was a first-team All-Conference player as well as a first-team NEIBA. He too enjoyed a program-best season as he finished with a slash line of .369/.473/.601. He won the America East batting title with a .373 average. He is the fifth member of the program to win a batting championship. He also closed the season with a 37-game on-base streak. In the field, Zyons was the best second baseman in the northeast area with a .968 fielding percentage, helped the defense turn 44 double plays, and is a career .340 hitter, with a .459 OBP, and 33 extra-base hits. On defense, he has made just seven errors in 261 chances, a .973 fielding percentage.

For the Bearcats, being picked second represents the seventh time in the last nine years they have been picked either first or second. Only once have they been picked lower than third in 2019 when they were picked to finish sixth.

UMass Lowell is slated to finish fifth and has three members on the All-Conference team. OF Carlos Martinez led the team in hits with 72, doubles with 26, RBI with 49, and slugging percentage at .545. In the field as the everyday RF, Martinez had 100 putouts and four assists which led to a .981 fielding percentage. OF Alex Luccini was a second-team pick a year ago. He led the team in at-bats with 221, 46 runs, and nine HRs. In center field, Alex had 163 putouts with seven assists for a .977 fielding percentage. Back in the fall, he was named captain of the team.

As a member of the rotation, Michael Simes was 2-4 with a 5.13 ERA, in 59.2 IP. He struck out 43 while walking only 18. On April 26, he threw a shutout Vs UMBC with four strikeouts.

Big things will be asked of 1st baseman Leewood Molessa of UMBC. After a strong freshman season, Molessa started the first six games of last year before missing the rest of the season with an injury.

Injuries played a key role in the spring season for the Black Bears a year ago. They lost 14 players to season-ending injuries. One of those players is starting pitcher Caleb Leys. He is back and healthy raring to go for the Black Bears this spring. He joins a rotation that could be the best in the conference if it stays healthy.

Record-wise, it was a tough season for the Great Danes. A young team that was trying to learn the college game. Two members of this year’s team will be counted on to help turn things around. Starting pitcher Dylan Banner had a 4-2 record with a 4.85 ERA. 52 IP, held hitters to a .209 batting average against, allowed 28 earned runs, 39 hits, and 40 strikeouts for the year. The other is Ryan Ferremi. The 1st baseman hit .288 in 170 at-bats. He had an OPS of .821 and had 49 hits in those at-bats. drove in 26 RBI, 29 BB, and an OBS of .427. He made 48 starts in 49 games played for UAlbany.

Starting pitcher Hunter De Jong of NJIT made 12 starts a year ago. He threw 62 innings, had 61 strikeouts, and 67 hits allowed. He would make 19 appearances overall. Catcher Cole Campbell is not a first-teamer but did lead the team in hitting with a .341 BA. He was named to the Top 50 catchers list by D1Baseball.com. He played in 43 games, hit three home runs, 26 RBI, and an OPS of .878. He had 13 multi-hit games with six 3-hit outings. He is the lone catcher from this league on the catcher list.

That gives you an idea of some of the players and teams in America East. Hope you get a chance to go see them play this spring.