Baseball: "Awards Show Rewind"
"Awards Show Rewind" is a Wells College Athletics 13 segment feature that reviews each 2019-20 Wells athletics team and its honorees from the May 20 Express Awards Show in reverse order from the show's countdown. Today's featured team is the 2020 baseball team. Links for the entire show can be found on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YCv2s5JgVc or Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WellsExpress/videos/256064415477517/
Wells College baseball team's head coach Ryan Stevens handed out four awards to six winners and recognized 10 seniors at the Wells College Express Awards Show on Wednesday, May 20.
Stevens awarded rookies of the year to Chase Sebastian and Cole Murray. "Chase had some quality starts on the mound in the shortened season and really showed a lot of promise for us. Cole showed a lot of ability in the field and had some pretty timely hits with timely defense," said Stevens.
Tanner Dunkel received the Express Award, which goes to the player who embodies the true ideals of team commitment: leadership, discipline, dedication, and sportsmanship. Stevens added, "His commitment to the program since day one on and off the field, and his willingness to play any position needed for the team, brought a consistent energy each day, while solidifying his role in the record book with his 100 career hits."
Stevens awarded co-pitchers of the year to Zach Kemp and Jared Strait. "Both are captains and both posted dominating performances early on in the year with double-digit strikeouts games while allowing zero runs in their starts. Both got NEAC Pitchers of the Week for their respective performances and both are workhorses for the program," added Stevens.
Finally, the position player of the year went to Dylan Nolan. "Dylan hit over .300 on the year while playing stellar defense behind the dish. He's a career .370 hitter and is a model of consistency and work ethic, and delivered the winning run in our eight-run comeback versus RIT in the last game of the season this year," Stevens said.
Four of the six winners were seniors that included Dunkel, Kemp, Strait and Nolan. The remaining six seniors acknowledged were Mark Yorkey, Tyler Young, A.J. Nesci, Jordan VanHerpe, Manny Carrillo and Chris Forney.
"They (seniors) should all be very proud of all they've accomplished during their time here. The future is bright for this program. Thank-you to the seniors that have to move on and we wish you nothing but the best of luck. To the seniors returning and our underclassmen, we have some unfinished business in our pursuit of a NEAC title," said Stevens.
Prior to Stevens announcing his team's award winners, Provost and Dean of the College Dr. Cindy Speaker announced the inaugural class of Wells College's New York State Alpha Omicron Chapter of Chi Alpha Sigma, a national organization that recognizes student-athletes from accredited four-year institutions who excel in both the classroom and competition. In order to be inducted, a student-athlete must attend a four-year accredited college or university that is a member of the NCAA, NAIA, or NCCAA. The honoree also must achieve at least junior academic standing by the fifth semester or seventh quarter, as determined by the certifying institution, and must have achieved a minimum cumulative grade-point average of a 3.4. Five members of the baseball team were among those named and included: Ian Crawford, Derek Shea, Nesci, Yorkey and Young.
Preceding the Provost and Dean of the College was Wells College President Jonathan Gibralter, who recognized accomplishments and milestones of Wells athletes during the past season. Among the baseball names referenced were Nolan as a CoSIDA Academic All-District recipient and Nesci and Dunkel, for reaching the milestone of 100 hits in their baseball careers.
Gibralter also referenced 19 NEAC players of the week, two of which came from the baseball team as pitchers of the week and included Strait and Kemp. The latter also received a National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Pitcher of the Week Honorable Mention.
A link to the Athletics Awards Program is at: https://wells.prestosports.com/general/2019-20/files/2020AwardsProgram.pdf
