SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Student-athletes from all nine institutions that sponsor baseball in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) were represented on the 2014 All-CCC Baseball Team. In addition to the all-conference team, winners of five major individual awards and the team sportsmanship award were also selected.
Endicott senior Tad Gold was selected CCC Player of the Year, while sophomore Gull teammate JJ Branch was named CCC Pitcher of the Year, and EC freshman Cam Farnham was tabbed CCC Rookie of the Year. Roger Williams' Sean Boyle was honored as CCC Senior Scholar-Athlete of the Year, while Hawk mentor Derek Carlson and Endicott's Bryan Haley were chosen as CCC Coaches of the Year. Nichols College and Western New England University were the recipients of the Team Sportsmanship Award.
Voting for the All-CCC team and each of the major awards was conducted among CCC baseball coaches.
Three members of the Wentworth Institute of Technology baseball team earned all-conference accolades as senior shortstop Jon Spitz (Hanover, Mass.) was named to the first team, junior outfielder Anthony Matera (Trumbull, Conn.) was named to the second team, and junior second baseman Joe Hulme (Tewksbury, Mass.) was named honorable mention.
After being named Honorable Mention All-CCC in in of the last three seasons, Spitz earns a spot on the first team after a season that has seen him bat a career-high .362 (42-for-116) with seven doubles, two triples, nine stolen bases, 30 runs scored, and 12 runs batted in. His batting average, doubles, and triples are all career-highs. He had a career-high four hits in a 19-12 win over Penn State Altoona on March 13 and hit a career-high two doubles in an 11-4 win over Curry on April 5. Spitz, who has an on-base percentage of .444, leads the team with 14 multiple-hit games.
Starting 124 of the 130 games in which he has played throughout the course of his career, Spitz is batting .339 (152-for-448) with 21 doubles, three triples, 39 stolen bases, 105 runs scored, and 49 runs batted in. He ranks second in program history in runs scored, is tied for second in career hits, is third in batting average and stolen bases, ninth in games played and on-base percentage (.412), and tied for 10th in doubles. He has also struck out just 33 times in 448 career at bats.
Matera started all 25 games in which he has played in to date and is having the best offensive season of his career as he is batting .333 (25-for-75) with four doubles, seven stolen bases, 25 runs scored, and 10 runs batted in to go along with an on-base percentage of .425. He had a career-high three hits in a 2-1 win over Endicott on April 18 and tied a career-high with four runs scored in a 19-12 win over Penn State Altoona on March 13.
For his career Matera has started 51 of the 69 games in which he has played and is batting .261 (42-for-161) with five doubles, one triple, one home run, 11 stolen bases, 41 runs scored, and 18 runs batted in.
A Second Team All-CCC Selection as a sophomore, Hulme has started all 31 of the Leopards' games this season and is batting .286 (28-for-98) with five double, one home run, 11 stolen bases, 21 runs scored, 23 runs batted in and an on-base percentage of .413. He hit his first career home run in a 19-12 win over Penn State Altoona in March 12, and had a career-high three RBI in a 10-5 win over Eastern Nazarene on April 9. Hulme leads the squad in multiple RBI games with eight.
Hulme has started 91 of 95 career games in which he has played and is batting .300 (83-for-227) with 12 doubles, three triples, one home run, 25 stolen bases, 62 runs scored, and 53 runs batted in, while sporting a career on-base percentage of .405. He ranks eighth on the Leopards' all-time stolen base list and 10th in career on-base percentage.
Wentworth presently sits at 15-16 and is the number six seed for the upcoming CCC Baseball Tournament, which begins on Thursday. The Leopards will square off against top-seeded and defending conference champion Endicott in a first-round game of the double-elimination event.