Weninger, Burst, Obin Earn All-CCC Honors

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Commonwealth Coast Conference announced its 2017 baseball all-conference teams and major award winners Thursday afternoon. Eight of the nine CCC schools were represented on this year's all-conference list. CCC Regular-Season Champion, Salve Regina led the way with 11 honorees.

Endicott claimed two of the major awards as Mike Kochiss (Fairfield, Conn.) was the CCC Player of the Year for the second straight season and his teammate Kevin Gould (Rollinsford, N.H.) was named pitcher of the year. Salve Regina pitcher Patrick Maybach (Saunderstown, R.I.) took home rookie of the year honors and Western New England's Daniel Morin (Salem, N.H.) was named the senior scholar-athlete. Seahawks head coach Eric Cirella was voted Coach of the Year and Gordon was given the team sportsmanship award.

Voting for the All-CCC teams and each of the major awards was conducted by the conference's nine baseball head coaches following the conclusion of the regular season.

Kochiss, Gould, and Morin were all All-CCC First-Team selections, with Kochiss earning the nod at shortstop, Gould being selected as a starting pitcher, and Morin being named the First-Team first baseman. Two other starting pitchers, Curry's David Griffin (Hanover, Mass.) and Salve's Cory Poplawski (Syracuse, N.Y.) were also recognized on the First Team. Poplawski's teammate, Christian Vargas (Melbourne, Fla.) was picked as the first team catcher. Joining Morin and Kochiss in the first team infield are Nichols second baseman Cam Cook (Phoenixville, Pa.) and the Seahawks' Colton Eremian (Boca Raton, Fla.) at third. Patrolling the first team outfield were Gordon's Dean Demers (Sandy Hook, Conn.), Nichols's Nick Roy (Middletown, Conn.), and Western New England's Ben LaCroix (Branford, Conn.). Junior Tyler Weninger (Chandler, Ariz.) from Wentworth was the first team designated hitter and Will Bryant (Cumberland, Maine) from Endicott was selected at relief pitcher.

Maybach was one of three starting pitchers selected to the second team. Also earning second team honors were Maybach's teammate Jimmy Fitzgerald (Canton, Mass.) and Western New England's Bob Hamel (Southwick, Mass.). They would deal to Second Team catcher Chris Bosco (North Andover, Mass.) from Roger Williams. The second team infield was comprised of a pair of Seahawks in first baseman Alex Perry (North Attleboro, Mass.) and shortstop Hunter Sleeper (Arlington, Mass.), plus Endicott second baseman Michael DeDonato (Chelmsford, Mass.) and WNE third baseman Jared Rosenblatt (Avon, Conn.). Two more Seahawks were second team selections in the outfield as Dylan Ketch (Clinton, Conn.) and Zack Smith (New Canaan, Conn.) were both recognized. They were joined by Endicott's Nick Berno (St. Albans, Vt.). The designated hitter on the Second Team was the Golden Bears' Aaron Rios (Stratford, Conn.), while Nichols's Kevin Kirley (Clinton, Mass.) was the relief pitcher.

There were 13 players named as Third Team All-CCC honorees. Three of them were starting pitchers with Danny Hayden (East Greenwich, R.I.) from Nichols, sophomore Ryan Obin (Plymouth, Mass.) from Wentworth, and Nick Quattro (Canton, Conn.) all being honored. The four-person infield was made up of first baseman Kyle Bouchard (Fall River, Mass.) from Nichols, second baseman John Militano (Miller Place, N.Y.) from Salve Regina, senior third baseman Jordan Burst (Jackson, N.J.) from Wentworth, and shortstop Alex Loparco (Riverside, Conn.) from Western New England. Nichols sophomore Andrew Doll (Plantation, Fla.) was the third team catcher. The three third team outfielders were Endicott's Michael Casciano (Somers, Conn.), Salve Regina's Brody Santilli (Lincoln, R.I.), and Roger Williams's Justin Stone (Blackstone, Mass.). Endicott graduate student Anthony Serina (Portsmouth, R.I.) was named the third team designated hitter and WNE's Jacques Boilard (Brimfield, Mass.) was the relief pitcher.

After being named First Team All-CCC at the designated hitter position as a freshman, Weninger earns the first team nod this season, a season which saw him bat .297 (30-for-101) with 10 doubles, two triples, four home runs, 21 runs scored, six stolen bases, and 28 runs batted in. He led the team in both home runs and RBI and, additionally, he had a slugging percentage of .554. He had 10 multiple-hit games, which included tying a career high with three hits in an 8-3 win over King's (Pa.) on March 6. In addition to playing designated hitter and first base, he made five starts on the mound for the Black & Gold and had a 2-2 record with 14 strikeouts in 27 innings of work.

Weninger has started all but one game for the Leopards (94 of 95) in his three seasons (94 of 95) and has a career batting average of .308 (93-for-302) with 28 doubles, five triples, eight home runs, 56 runs scored, and 82 runs batted in while slugging .513. He ranks fifth in program history in slugging percentage, sixth in doubles, eighth in both runs batted in and home runs, and ninth in triples.

An outfielder for two seasons before moving to the hot corner for the final two years of his career, Burst earns his first all-conference honor. In 31 games he batted .306 (34-for-111) with five doubles, one home run, five stolen bases, and 22 runs scored. On the season he had nine multiple-hit games, including a career-high four hits in a 7-6 loss at Johnson & Wales on April 20. He also matched a career high with three RBI in a 17-6 win over New England on March 5.

Burst missed just two games in his career and started every game he appeared in (126). He ends his career with a .307 (130-for-423) batting average with 12 doubles, one home run, 79 runs scored, 14 stolen bases, and 66 runs batted in. He recorded his 100th career hit in a 9-5 win over King's (Pa.) on March 6 and his 130 career hits rank him ninth in program history.

Obin earns a spot on the Third Team All-CCC after an impressive first season with the Leopards. In eight starts he had a 5-3 record with five complete games and a shutout while recording the lowest earned run average in a single season in program history (1.13) and holding opponents to a .226 batting average. His first start with the Black & Gold saw him notch a career-high seven strikeouts in a 2-1 win over New England College on March 5 with the run he gave up being unearned. Obin did not give up an earned run in his first 22.1 innings of work and he recorded his lone solo shutout of the season in a 1-0 win over Curry – the team in which he was a member of during the 2016 campaign – on April 30.

Wentworth finished the season with a 15-16 overall record an narrowly missed the CCC playoffs.

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