PAC releases All-Conference baseball teams, award winners

PAC releases All-Conference baseball teams, award winners

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GREENVILLE, Pa. (pacathletics.org) – The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) announced its 2017 All-PAC baseball teams and annual award winners Tuesday afternoon.

The All-PAC baseball teams, along with the PAC's annual award winners, are determined by vote of the league's nine head coaches.

Washington & Jefferson College senior catcher Derek Helbing (Pataskala, Ohio | Watkins Memorial) was selected as the PAC Player of the Year, while W&J senior righty Riley Groves (Louisville, Ohio | Louisville) collected PAC Pitcher of the Year honors. W&J 15th-year head coach Jeff Mountain was named the PAC Coach of the Year.

Helbing, the first catcher to claim player of the year honors since Bethany College’s Steve Opfermann won back-to-back awards in 1999-2000, leads the circuit and ranks 21st in NCAA Division III with 51 RBIs. In 42 games (41 starts) he has totaled 11 home runs, tied for the most in the league while ranking 12th in Division III, 43 runs scored, third-most in the league, and drawn a PAC-best 25 walks. Helbing has compiled a .342 (50-for-146) batting average and .644 slugging percentage while posting a PAC-high 19 two-out RBIs and a .441 average with two outs, second-best in the league.

Helbing finished with seven RBIs, three runs scored a pair of home runs during W&J’s five-game PAC Championship Tournament run last weekend to earn a spot on the league’s all-tournament team. 

In nine appearances (10.1 innings) on the mound this season, Helbing has recorded a 3-0 record to go along with four saves while producing a 0.87 earned-run average (ERA).

Groves, named a PAC Co-Pitcher of the Year in 2015 with Waynesburg University’s Brian Resnik, is currently 8-2 with a 1.94 ERA in 11 starts (65.0 innings) this season. He leads the league in ERA and opponent batting average (.207) while his wins total ranks second. Also third on the PAC’s strikeout list with 56, Groves has three complete games and a shutout on his ledger this season.

Groves has posted the third-most career victories (25) at W&J while ranking second in career ERA (2.57) and fifth in all-time innings pitched (207.0).

Groves went 5.0 innings and allowed one run (earned) on a pair of hits with four strikeouts and a walk in W&J’s title-clinching 8-1 victory over Grove City College in Saturday's “if-necessary” game to garner a spot on the PAC’s All-Tournament Team.

With this year’s title, Mountain has now led the Presidents to seven league championships since arriving at W&J in 2003. The coach of the year award is his seventh. W&J (34-10) enters this weekend’s Division III Mideast Regional ranked 16th in the latest D3baseball.com/National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 and 23rd in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball Division III Poll.

W&J, hosting the Division III Mideast Regional at Ross Memorial Park for the third-straight season, enters as the number four seed and will face fifth-seeded Misericordia University at 10 a.m. Thursday.

W&J and Thomas More College tied for the top spot on this year’s PAC Preseason Coaches’ Poll, which was released February 14. W&J registered five first-place votes and 75 points while Thomas More, winners of last season’s championship tournament, totaled four first-place votes and 75 points.

Thomas More and 17th-year head coach Jeff Hetzer were voted the winners of this year's PAC's Team Sportsmanship Award.

2017 Awards
PAC Player of the Year: Washington & Jefferson College senior catcher Derek Helbing (Pataskala, Ohio | Watkins Memorial)
PAC Pitcher of the Year: Washington & Jefferson College senior Riley Groves (Louisville, Ohio | Louisville)
PAC Coach of the Year: Washington & Jefferson College head coach Jeff Mountain
Team Sportsmanship Award: Thomas More College
 
2017 All-Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Baseball Teams
First Team
Position Name Class School Hometown | High School
C Derek Helbing Sr. Washington & Jefferson College Pataskala, Ohio | Watkins Memorial
1B Matt Waugaman Sr. Grove City College Wexford, Pa. | North Allegheny
1B Jonathon Kletzli Sr. Waynesburg University Carnegie, Pa. | Chartiers Valley
2B Ben Laumann Jr. Thomas More College Cincinnati, Ohio | Oak Hills
2B Tyler Reis So. Waynesburg University Pittsburgh, Pa. | Penn Hills
SS Nick Gatins Sr. Washington & Jefferson College North Royalton, Ohio | North Royalton
3B Frank Fortunato Sr. Washington & Jefferson College Canonsburg, Pa. | Canon-McMillan
OF Casey Metzer Sr. Thomas More College Cincinnati, Ohio | Oak Hills
OF Nick Vento Sr. Washington & Jefferson College Murrysville, Pa. | Franklin Regional
UTIL Neil Woods So. Bethany College Pittsburgh, Pa. | North Allegheny
UTIL Joseph Salmen Jr. Westminster College New Castle, Pa. | Union
P John Bini So. Grove City College Staten Island, N.Y. | Xaverian
P Nick Bucci So. Thiel College Pittsburgh, Pa. | Allderdice
P Ken Ruberg Sr. Thomas More College Cincinnati, Ohio | LaSalle
P Riley Groves Sr. Washington & Jefferson College Louisville, Ohio | Louisville
 
Second Team
Position Name Class School Hometown | High School
C Ben Miller Sr. Waynesburg University Columbia, Md. | Hammond
1B Mark Merlino Jr. Washington & Jefferson College Irwin, Pa. | Penn-Trafford
2B Adam LaRue Sr. Washington & Jefferson College Imperial, Pa. | West Allegheny
SS Jacob Whitford So. Thomas More College Fort Thomas, Ky. | Highland
3B Nick Grice Jr. Thiel College McKeesport, Pa. / McKeesport
3B Bailey Abbatiello Sr. Thomas More College Cincinnati, Ohio | LaSalle
OF Tyler Pagaduan Jr. Geneva College Voorhees, N.J. | Eastern Regional
OF Tyler Graham Jr. Grove City College Vandergrift, Pa. | Kiski Area
OF Alex Lam So. Thiel College Springboro, Ohio | Springboro
OF Ryan Sciullo Jr. Washington & Jefferson College Vandergrift, Pa. | Kiski Area
DH/UTIL Greg Martin Jr. Saint Vincent College Irwin, Pa. | Hempfield Area
P Nick Gross So. Bethany College Pittsburgh, Pa. | North Allegheny
P Jimmy Malone Fr. Saint Vincent College Connellsville, Pa. | Connellsville
P Kevin Forrester Sr. Thiel College Canonsburg, Pa. | Canon-McMillan
P Bryce Schnatterly Jr. Washington & Jefferson College Cranberry Township, Pa. | Seneca Valley
 
Honorable Mention
Position Name Class School Hometown | High School
C Alex Martin Sr. Bethany College Sound Beach, N.Y. | Miller Place
C Sam Hauer So. Thomas More College Cincinnati, Ohio | Elder
1B Sean Lawrence So. Thomas More College Independence, Ky. | Simon Kenton
1B Brandon Rossier Jr. Westminster College Wexford, Pa. | North Allegheny
2B Ryan Nickerson Jr. Bethany College Huntington Beach, Calif. | Huntington Beach
2B Filippo Costanzo Jr. Thiel College Brunswick, Ohio | Brunswick
SS Zack Miller Sr. Bethany College West Mifflin, Pa. | West Mifflin
SS Forrest Beighley Jr. Geneva College Beaver Falls, Pa. | Blackhawk
SS Daniel Patrice So. Thiel College Munich, Germany | EST
OF Joey Luciana Jr. Geneva College Oakmont, Pa. | St. Joseph
OF Bryan Mitchell Sr. Thiel College Cleveland, Ohio | Padua Franciscan
OF Mitch Nordstrom So. Waynesburg University Bethel Park, Pa. | Bethel Park
P Jayson Essell Jr. Thomas More College Cincinnati, Ohio | Oak Hills
P Logan Miller Sr. Thomas More College Cincinnati, Ohio | LaSalle
P Griffin Smallwood FY Thomas More College Lakeside Park, Ky. | Dixie Heights
P Matt Heslin Jr. Washington & Jefferson College McDonald, Pa. | Fort Cherry
P Trevor Kerr Sr. Washington & Jefferson College Orrville, Ohio | Orrville
P Luke Carter Sr. Waynesburg University Saegertown, Pa. | Saegertown