Baseball Earns Four Worcester Area Baseball Honors
Drury named Worcester Area Rookie of the Year; Lyons, Magni, St. Hilaire all earn accolades
FITCHBURG, Mass. (May 14, 2014) –The fourth annual Worcester Area Baseball All-Star team has been announced after a vote by sports information directors representing all ten Worcester area colleges and universities. In addition, four major award winners were also named for their respective contributions to the success of their baseball programs.
Four Fitchburg State baseball players were honored with freshman Steven Drury, Jr. (Ashburnham, Mass.) leading the way as the a first team selection and the Worcester Area Rookie of the Year. Classmates Joe Lyons (W. Roxbury, Mass.) and Joe St. Hilaire (Chelsmford, Mass.) garnered second team accolades, while junior Ryan Magni (W. Springfield, Mass.) was also named to the All-Area second team.
Assumption senior Ysander Figueroa (Worcester, MA/Worcester Tech) was selected as the Worcester Area Player of the Year. Junior left-hander Ben Libuda (Auburn, MA) of Worcester State earned Worcester Area Pitcher of the Year honors, while Lancer head coach Dr. Dirk Baker was tabbed the Worcester Area Coach of the Year.
Figueroa put up some solid numbers this season for the Greyhounds as an All-Northeast 10 Second-team honoree. Tying for the second best home run total in the conference with seven, Figueroa was also fifth in slugging (.509) and seventh in runs (38) as he was second on the club with 46 hits and 11 doubles. On the mound in relief, he fanned 14 in 11.2 innings with seven saves which is currently the fourth highest sum in the NE-10.
Libuda was one of two pitchers chosen to the All-MASCAC First-team. The southpaw went 5-2 with a 2.25 earned run average and six complete games. In addition to sporting the seventh-lowest ERA in the conference, he yielded 13 earned runs in 52.0 frames of work to go with 31 strikeouts. Of Libuda’s 38 hits, only 10 went for extra bases with no round trippers.
Drury, Jr tore the cover off the ball as he led the MASCAC in average (.438), slugging (.742), on base percentage (.531) and triples (9) en route to co-conference Rookie of the Year accolades. He was also second in doubles (15) and runs scored (35), third in hits (56), tied for sixth in RBIs (27) and ninth with 11 swipes. Drury, Jr tops the NCAA Division III in three-baggers while his on base percentage is eighth, on-base percentage is 11th and hitting clip is 12th.
Baker, in his 19th season at Worcester State, helped guide the Lancers to claim a share of their seventh regular season title and fifth MASCAC Tournament Championship since 2001. The Blue and Gold will compete at the NCAA Division III Tournament for the sixth time in program history on Wednesday when they play second-seeded Southern Maine in the Harwich Regional. Entering the Tournament, WSU is 25-15 and went 11-3 in league action.
Joining Figueroa on the first team included teammates Mike Coggeshall (1B) and Greg O’Donnell (3B) while Libuda and David Ruggiero (SS) were also chosen from Worcester State. Other selections included Joshua Creamer (2B) of Anna Maria, Matt Consigli (OF), Nick Lemay (SP) and Tom Natoli (DH) of Becker, Derek Dubois (SP) of Clark, Drury, Jr of Fitchburg State, Sean Gustin (RP) and Evan Ocello (OF) of Holy Cross, Benjamin Harrow (C) of Nichols, John Boyd (OF) and Tim Sargent (SP) of Quinsigamond Community College along with Dan Bettigole (CL) and Sean Greene (UTL) of WPI.
Those named to the Second-team included Corey Andrade (1B) of Anna Maria, Kevin O’Connor (SP) of Assumption, Mike Marcello (3B) of Becker, Joe St. Hillaire (SP), Joe Lyons (3B), and Ryan Magni (RP) of Fitchburg State, Jack St. Clair (DH) and Brandon Cipolla (OF) of Holy Cross, Brett Franciosi (SS) and Adam Rigney (CL) of Nichols, Adam Barry (OF) and Kris Doyle (SP) of Worcester State, Vinny D’Ambrosio (2B), Sean Kelly (C) and Taylor Landry (SP) of WPI.