Hyland, Wodatch, Sullivan Earn Worcester All-Star Honors
Worcester, MA --- The Third 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.
Anna Maria College placed three players on the All-Star team. Seniors Justin Hyland (2B) and Kevin Wodatch (UT) scored first team selection while teammate John Sullivan (C) garnered second team recognition.
Holy Cross senior first-baseman Jordan Enos (Stockton, MA) was tabbed the Worcester Area Player of the Year, fourth-year reliever John Collella (Herndon, CA) earned Worcester Area Player of the Year accolades and sixth-year head coach Greg DiCenzo was named the Worcester Area Coach of the Year.
All three were instrumental in helping lead the Crusaders to their first-ever Patriot League Regular Season Championship and top seed in the conference tournament.
Enos, who copped Patriot League Player of the Year and Scholar Athlete of the Year honors, is currently batting .341 with two homers, 36 runs batted in, 60 base-knocks and 32 runs scored. Enos is currently tied for first in his conference with 18 doubles while he is also third in RBIs, fourth in both total bases (81) and batting average and his slugging is fifth (.482).
Collella, who was recognized as the first-ever reliever to garner Patriot League Pitcher of the Year laurels, has posted a 2-3 mark with 51 strikeouts in 45.1 innings to go with a 3.57 earned run average in 23 appearances. In league action, Collella was nearly untouchable as he went 2-0 with six stops in addition yielding just two earned runs and 24 punch-outs in 21 frames of work.
DiCenzo, who received the nod as the Worcester Area Coach of the Year last season, piloted Holy Cross to an overall mark of 28-23 and 15-5 in the Patriot League. The Crusaders will be making their third Patriot League Tournament Championship appearance in the last four seasons when they host third-seeded Army this upcoming weekend in a best of three series for the chance to go to the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.
Freshman Alex Vendetti (Newton, MA) of WPI was recognized as the Worcester Area Rookie of the Year. Vendetti, who was also honored as the top rookie in the NEWMAC, impressed hitting a .332 clip with nine doubles, five homers, 27 RBIs and 22 runs scored. In addition to being second in the conference in homers, he was top 10 in the conference in several categories including slugging percentage (fourth - .528), doubles (tied eighth) and RBIs (tied ninth).
Joining Collella and Enos on the first team included teammates Mike Ahmed (3B), Patrick Puentes (OF) Ean Ocello (OF) and Donnie Murray (SP), Justin Hyland (2B) and Kevin Wodatch (UTL) of Anna Maria, Thomas Paine (C) and Shane Keddy (SS) of Assumption, Zach George (OF) and Alex Teal (RHP) of Worcester State, Tom Natoli (DH) of Becker, Andrew Leblanc (RHP) of Clark, Pat Mercer (RHP) of Fitchburg State and Shane Sampson (UTL) of WPI.
Vendetti, DJ Ouellette (3B) and Taylor Landry (RHP) of WPI were on the second team in addition to Dan Bradley (RHP) and Cody Rocha (LHP - RP) of Assumption, Mike Marcello (SS) and Todd Tompkins (OF) of Becker, Michael Eglow (C) and Derek Dubois (RHP) of Clark, Andrew Berry (2B) and Brandon Cipolla (OF) of Holy Cross, Dylan Pond (OF) and John Boyd (UTL) of Quinsigamond Community College, John Sullivan (C) of Anna Maria, David Mason (OF) of Fitchburg State, Brady Boisvert (RHP) of Nichols and Kurt Sabacinski (DH) of Worcester State.
First Team
Pos. Name Institution Cl. Hometown/High School
C Thomas Paine Assumption Fr. Upton, MA/Nipmuc
1B Jordan Enos (1st - '12) Holy Cross Sr. Stockton, CA/Licoln
2B Justin Hyland Anna Maria Sr. Spencer, MA/David Prouty
3B Mike Ahmed (1st - '12) Holy Cross Jr. E. Longmeadow, MA/E. Longmeadow
SS Shane Keddy (1st – '12) Assumption Sr. Worcester, MA/Worcester Tech
OF Ean Ocello Holy Cross So. Camarillo, CA/Oaks Christian
OF Patrick Puentes (1st - '12) Holy Cross Sr. E. Greenbush, NY/Columbia
OF Zach George Worcester State So. Attleboro, MA/Attleboro
DH Tom Natoli Becker Sr. Suffern, NY/Suffern
UTL Kevin Wodatch (1st '12) Anna Maria Sr. Wallingford, CT/Sheehan
UTL Shane Sampson WPI Sr. Worcester, MA/W. Boylston
SP Donnie Murray Holy Cross So. Walpole, MA/Boston College High
SP Alex Teal Worcester State Sr. Attleboro, MA/Attleboro
SP Andrew LeBlanc Clark Sr. Farmington, CT/Farmington
SP Pat Mercer Fitchburg State Sr. Townsend, MA/St. Bernard's
RP John Collella (1st - '12, 2nd - '11) Holy Cross Sr. Herndon, VA/Chantilly
Second Team
Pos. Name Institution Cl. Hometown/High School
C John Sullivan Anna Maria Jr. Southbury, CT/Pomperaug
C Michael Eglow Clark Fr. Delmar, NY/The Albany Academies
1B Alex Venditti WPI Fr. Newton, MA/St. Sebastian's
2B Andrew Berry Holy Cross Jr. Puyallup, WA/Puyallup
3B DJ Ouellette WPI Fr. Watertown, MA/Watertown
SS Mike Marcello Becker Jr. W. Haven, CT/W. Haven
OF Brandon Cipolla Holy Cross Jr. Abington, MA/Boston College High
OF Todd Tomkins (1st - '12, '11) Becker Sr. West Haven, CT/West Haven
OF Dylan Pond (1st - '12) Quinsigamond So. Hubbardston, MA/Quabbin
OF David Mason Fitchburg State Jr. Leominster, MA/Leominster
DH Kurt Sabacinski Worcester State Sr. Worcester, MA/St. Peter Marian
UTL John Boyd Quinsigamond Fr. Worcester, MA/Worcester Tech
SP Taylor Landry WPI So. Kennebunk, ME/Kennebunk
SP Derek Dubois Clark Sr. Haverhill, MA/St. John's Prep
SP Brady Boisvert Nichols Fr. Plainfield, NH/Lebanon
SP Dan Bradley Assumption Sr. Moodus, CT/Nathan Hale Ray
RP Cody Rocha Assumption Jr. Fall River, MA/BMC Durfee
Player of the Year –– Jordan Enos – Holy Cross
Pitcher of the Year – John Collella – Holy Cross
Rookie of the Year – Alex Vendetti – WPI
Coach of the Year – Greg DiCenzo – Holy Cross
