NCAA Semifinalist Virginia Headlines 2011 ECAC Division I Baseball All-Stars

CENTERVILLE, Mass.—The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) on Thursday announced its Division I Baseball All-Star Team. Receiving individual awards, pictured left to right, Brian O'Connor from the University of Virginia is the ECAC Coach of the Year, Jake Lowery of James Madison University is the ECAC Player of the Year, Virginia’s Danny Hultzen is the ECAC Pitcher of the Year and Brandon McNitt with Stony Brook University is the ECAC Rookie of the Year.

Lowery, a junior who won the Johnny Bench Award as the nation's best catcher, earned seven all-America certificates this season from College Baseball Insider.com, Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America, the American Baseball Coaches Association, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, Perfect Game and College Baseball Lineup. He batted .359 with school records of 24 home runs, 54 extra-base hits, 91 runs batted in and 200 total bases. He led NCAA Division I in the latter two statistical categories as well as runs scored (80). He decided to forego his senior year and is currently playing professionally for the Mahoning Valley Scrappers in the New York-Penn League.  

Hultzen became the first Virginia baseball player to earn first-team All-America honors three times, going 12-3 on the mound with a 1.37 earned-run average this season as he earned back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year honors. The junior also was named to the Capital One Academic All-America First Team. Hultzen set school records with 12 wins and 165 strikeouts and broke the career records in each of those categories, too. In addition, he claimed the John Olerud Two-Way Player Award, presented to the top two-way player in college baseball.

McNitt, a right-handed pitcher, was tabbed a 2011 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The 2011 America East Conference Rookie of the Year, McNitt went 7-3 with a 2.03 ERA in 79.2 innings, with the ERA mark ranking 39th in the nation. An all-conference second team selection, he walked just 18 batters and held opponents to a .231 batting average. Stony Brook won a school-record 42 games on its way to the program’s first-ever America East regular-season title.

O'Connor piloted Virginia to a school-record 56-12 season that included ACC Coastal Division and ACC tournament titles, as well as a No. 1 national seed in the NCAA tournament. UVa won its third straight NCAA regional title (then the Super Regional championship) to earn a berth in the program's second College World Series, where the Cavaliers reached the semifinals before falling to eventual national champion South Carolina. The Cavaliers set 13 individual and team and saw program firsts with four All-Americans, seven all-ACC performers and an attendance average of 3,298 fans per game.

The head coaches, or his/her designee, within the ECAC membership voted on the teams and individual awards.

2011 ECAC Division I Baseball All-Stars

Player of the Year
Jake Lowery, C, Jr., James Madison (Colonial Athletic Association)

Pitcher of the Year
Danny Hultzen, Jr., Virginia (Atlantic Coast Conference)

Rookie of the Year
Brandon McNitt, RHP, Stony Brook (America East Conference)

Coach of the Year
Brian O'Connor, Virginia (Atlantic Coast Conference)

First Team

First Base: David Chester, Sr., Pittsburgh (Big East Conference)

Second Base: Dan Paolini, Sr., Siena (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)

Shortstop: Joe Panik, Jr. , St. John's (Big East Conference)

Third Base: Steven Proscia, Jr., Virginia (Atlantic Coast Conference)

Catcher:  Jake Lowery, Jr. , James Madison (Colonial Athletic Association)

Designated Hitter: William Carmona, So., Stony Brook (America East Conference)

Outfield: George Springer, Jr., Connecticut (Big East Conference)

Outfield: Brendon Kelliher, Sr., George Washington (Atlantic-10 Conference)

Outfield: Jeremy Baltz, So, St. John's (Big East Conference)

Utility: Ricky Pacione, Sr., Marist (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)

Pitcher: Danny Hultzen, Jr., Virginia (Atlantic Coast Conference)

Pitcher: Nick Tropeano, Jr., Stony Brook (America East Conference)        

Second Team

First Base: Steve Ulaky, Sr., Delaware (Colonial Athletic Association)

Second Base: Ryan Terry, Sr., Monmouth (Northeast Conference)

Shortstop: Sean Jamieson, Sr., Canisius  (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)

Third Base: Matt Gedman, Sr., Massachusetts (Atlantic-10 Conference)

Catcher: Kevan Smith, Sr., Pittsburgh (Big East Conference)

Designated Hitter: Jeremy Gum, Sr., West Virginia (Big East Conference)

Outfield: David Coleman, Sr., Virginia (Atlantic Coast Conference)

Outfield: Danny Poma, Jr. , Hofstra (Colonial Athletic Association)

Outfield: Dario Pizzano, So., Columbia (Ivy League)

Utility: Taylor Perkins, Jr., Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial Athletic Association)

Pitcher: Matt Barnes, Jr., Connecticut (Big East Conference)

Pitcher:  Joe DiRocco, Sr., Seton Hall (Big East Conference)