Baseball | 2/25/2016 12:39:00 PM
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Allegheny College baseball team collected a first-place vote and was selected to finish third in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) this season, according to a poll conducted by the league's coaches released on Thursday afternoon.
Allegheny earned 79 points and was slotted behind second-place Ohio Wesleyan (84 points) and preseason favorite Wooster (99), who collected the remaining nine first-place tallies. Denison checked in at fourth with 67 points, followed by DePauw (66), Oberlin (42), Wabash (39), Kenyon (37), Wittenberg (20), and Hiram (17).
Kelly Swiney '99 returns five All-NCAC honorees from a season ago. One of two seniors on the Gators' roster, infielder
Joe Killian was a First Team selection and garnered D3Baseball.com Mideast All-Region accolades after hitting .374 with a team-high 16 doubles, 25 walks, and 42 runs batted in. Junior right-hander
Chase Boyer joined Killian on the All-NCAC First Team after posting the league's third lowest earned run average (2.89) in a team-best 53.0 innings pitched. Boyer also struck out a team-high 38 batters and went the distance on three different occasions.
The junior duo of infielder
Jacob Shick and right-handed pitcher
Robert Julian also return to Allegheny after collecting All-NCAC Second Team plaudits as sophomores. Shick hit .351 with a team-high seven homeruns and a .554 slugging percentage in his second year donning the blue and gold, while Julian led the conference in fewest earned runs allowed (15) and showed excellent control with just 11 free passes distributed in 44.0 innings pitched.
Also coming back for the Gators is junior
Corey Keenan, who garnered All-NCAC Honorable Mention accolades after posting a 4-0 record in 41.2 innings and 10 appearances as a sophomore.
After having its season opening series postponed due to inclement weather, Allegheny is set to travel to St. Mary's College of Maryland next weekend for a three-game series starting on Saturday, March 5.
