A-10 Honors 5 Duquesne Baseball Players

Four Duquesne baseball players have been honored by the Atlantic 10 Conference, in a vote by the league's head coaches. The league announced the baseball honors Tuesday evening, one the eve of the 2006 Championship Tournament when first-year members Charlotte and Saint Louis hit the field at noon Wed. at Fordham’s Jack Coffey Field at Houlihan Park.

Seniors Joe Berletic (Jefferson Hills, PA / Thomas Jefferson) and Steve Maiolo (Pittsburgh, PA / Mt. Lebanon) and junior Derek Mechling (Homer City, PA / Homer Center) were named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference Academic Team.

Sophomore Eric Morrison (Pittsburgh, PA / Bethel Park) is an All-Conference Team Honorable Mention and redshirt freshman Mike Carroll (New Martinsville, WV / Magnolia) was named to the All-Rookie Team.

• Berletic had a team low 10 strikeouts. He also had 39 hits in 40 games and was 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts.
• Carroll's .306 batting average was the third best and his six home runs was second for the Dukes.
• Maiolo, and Morrison, were the only players to start all of the 53 games this season. Maiolo had 53 hits, 21 RBI and 30 runs scored.
• Mechling led the Dukes with a .337 batting average, 40 runs scored, 28 walks and 21 doubles. He was second on the team with 32 RBI and 60 hits and tied for third with five home runs. Mechling also was a perfect 12-for-12 in stolen bases.
• Morrison had a team-best 62 hits and 16 stolen bases and was second with a .315 average and 19 doubles. Playing in all 53 contests, he didn't commit a single error in his 139 chances (136 put-outs and three assists) at center field for the 19-34 squad.

Duquesne was one win short of a fourth straight conderence tournament experience; in the regular season finale, DU was edged by George Washington, 5-4, as the visiting Colonials scored three runs in the ninth. GW is the sixth seed.

The Dukes were 10-5 in their last 15 games moving from 13th place to a tie for ninth, and just "this close" to sixth.

The top awards:

• St. Bonaventure's Brian Pellegrini is the A-10 Player of the Year
• Steve Holmes, a righthander from Rhode Island, is the Pitcher of the Year
• Aaron Bray of Charlotte is the A-10 Rookie of the Year
• Charlotte's Mike Ambrose was named Student-Athlete of the Year
• St. Bonaventure's Larry Sudbrook is the Coach of the Year.

The other teams in the six-college double-elimination tournament are Dayton, Rhode Island and St. Bonaventure.

Link

Atlantic 10 press release