Wheaton baseball represented among collegiate summer league teams

June 18, 2008

NORTON, MA- Ten Wheaton College baseball players and one coach will represent the Lyons on various summer league teams throughout the country this summer. Fourth-year assistant coach Ryan Parker '01 is on the Harwich Mariners staff of the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL), where he will assist with the pitchers, while players dot the rosters of teams from the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League (GLSCL), Hawaii Collegiate Baseball League (HCBL), New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL), New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL) and Southern Collegiate Baseball League (SCBL).

Six rising seniors signed to teams were Jared Barnes (North Attleboro, MA/Bishop Feehan), Louie Bernardini (Gray, ME/Gray-New Gloucester), Adam Gingras (Woonsocket, RI/Woonsocket), Brian Hughes (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill Regional), Nick Pecora (Highland Park, NJ/Immaculata) and Josh Simmons (Cranston, RI/Cranston West). Incoming juniors include Nick Kostaras (North Attleboro, MA/North Attleboro), Jeff Lieneck (Foxboro, MA/Xaverian Brothers), Paul Malaguti (Andover, MA/Andover) and Jon Shepard (Salisbury, MA/Triton Regional).

Barnes, Lieneck and Simmons are members of NYCBL teams, while Bernardini and Pecora joined the NECBL. Kostaras and Malaguti became Wheaton's first players to compete in Hawaii, while Hughes and Shepard are with teams from the SCBL. Gingras, who re-signed with the GLSCL's Southern Ohio Copperheads after playing for them last summer, will not pitch for the squad due to an injury.

Gingras became the third pitcher in school history to earn American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-America honors. Named New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) all-region and voted New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) Pitcher of the Year, Gingras matched the school's wins record by going 8-0 with a 1.70 earned run average and 47 strikeouts in 68.2 innings.

Bernardini, who didn't don a Blue and White jersey last spring while rehabbing an injury, signed with the Pittsfield Dukes after pitching for the NYCBL's Saratoga Phillies the previous two summers. During the 2007 campaign, in which the Lyons went 34-13, the righthander was 7-1 with a 3.05 earned run average in 62 innings.

A teammate of Bernardini last summer, Simmons returned to the Phillies after recording a NEWMAC-best 10 saves in as many situations, which tied for third in program annals and tied for fifth among all Division III hurlers. In 18 appearances, Simmons fanned 36 batters in 27.2 innings. Lieneck rounds out the Lyons returning to an NCAA-sanctioned league team from a year ago, as he signed with the Little Falls Miners. After playing for the Dukes in 2007, Lieneck picked up all-region and all-league accolades in his first season as Wheaton's starting catcher. He batted .355, threw out over 45 percent of would-be base stealers and posted a .994 fielding percentage.

Barnes also signed with the Miners, as the righthanded reliever posted a 2-1 record with a 2.12 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 17 innings for the Lyons. Pecora is on the Lowell All-Americans roster after starting in 42 games as Wheaton's shortstop. He scored 31 runs and drove in 25 more while smacking eight doubles and three triples. Hughes is pitching for the Lake Norman Copperheads, as the southpaw is coming off a spring in which he went 5-3 with a 3.74 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 53 innings.

Shepard is with Hughes in the SCBL as a member of the Carolina Chaos. The righty had 19 strikeouts and just six walks in 26.0 innings. Kostaras is pitching for the Kauai Menehunes, as the righthander went 5-0 with a 2.98 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 57.1 frames this spring. Malaguti, who served as an everyday outfielder for the first time, signed on with the Kamuela Paniolos. He led the Lyons in hitting, batting .374 with a .534 slugging percentage. An all-league choice, Malaguti had 37 runs, 12 doubles and four homers.

Wheaton, which ranked 17th in the final ABCA national poll, amassed a 34-10 record while competing in its eighth NCAA Tournament in nine seasons. The Lyons captured their ninth NEWMAC Tournament title in the conference's 10-year history, finishing second in the regular season standings with a 9-3 mark.

This page is maintained by Scott Dietz. Last updated on 6/18/08.
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