Baseball Lands Three on D3baseball.com All-New England Teams
NEW LONDON, Conn. – Three members of the Mitchell College baseball team were named to D3baseball.com All-New England teams on Monday, as announced by the web site.
Junior Al Jordan Johnson was one of three starting pitchers and 14 players named to the first team while senior outfielder Kenneth Olszewski and junior pitcher Tyler Shamas earned spots on the third team. Both Johnson and Olszewski earned D3baseball.com honors for the first time in their careers while Shamas was a repeat selection (third team in 2013).
The 2015 season marks the fourth year that D3baseball.com has named All-Region teams, with over 800 players nominated. The ballot was then made available to sports information directors—who voted for a predetermined number of players in their region—as well as D3baseball.com staff and contributors.
Johnson, the New England Collegiate Conference Pitcher of the Year and an all-conference first team selection, enjoyed a career year in which he went 10-1 and set the program record for single season wins. He posted a career-low ERA of 2.58 over 59.1 innings and struck out 56 batters while issuing only 17 walks. He went 6-0 in league play and ranked second in the NECC with a 1.27 ERA.
Olszewski batted a team- and career-high .399 over 39 games and finished with 12 doubles, two triples, three home runs, 32 RBI and 41 runs scored. He also set the program record for single season hits (59) and finished his career ranked fourth on the all-time hits list with 146 in three seasons. The two-time all-conference first team selection was also named the most valuable player of the 2015 NECC Championship.
Shamas went 7-2 on the hill and posted a 2.59 ERA over 48.2 innings, finishing with 39 strikeouts against only 16 walks. The right-hander also became Mitchell's all-time winningest pitcher with 23 career victories on his resume. He went 6-0 in league play and led the NECC with a 1.22 ERA, earning his third straight all-conference first team nod.
The trio led the Mariners to a 16-2 record in conference play and secured the program's second consecutive and fourth overall NECC Championship. Mitchell (32-7 overall) also set a school record for single season victories and was consistently ranked in the NEIBA's weekly regional poll.
Mitchell's season came to an end in the NCAA Championship. The Mariners, making their third NCAA appearance, lost games to nationally-ranked Salisbury University and Kean University in the Mid-Atlantic Regional.
Click here for the complete teams
