2015 Baseball Honor Roll Announced
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The 2015 Sun Conference Baseball Tournament Presented by Homewood Suites was unofficially kicked off on Thursday evening with the All-Conference Awards Banquet where the 2015 edition of the league honor roll was announced. 34 student-athletes from eight of the conference’s 10 baseball teams were represented on the All-Conference roster. In addition, the league’s Rick Smoliak Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Jaffe Tilchin Champions of Character awards were announced. The awards were nominated and voted on by the league’s 10 baseball coaches.
The Sun Conference Player of the Year award went to Northwood’s Keivan Berges. The sophomore designated hitter is the first Seahawk to claim the honor since 2009 when Oscar DePablos took home the accolade. Berges led the Seahawks to the first regular season championship in program history, hitting .354 with 67 hits, 19 doubles, 14 home runs and 67 RBIs. Berges scored 39 times and drew 25 walks, posting a slugging percentage of .688 and an on-base percentage of .431. Berges ranks in the top 10 nationally in four offensive categories, including fourth in RBIs (67) and RBIs per game (1.4).
Northwood’s Cody Gray claimed league Pitcher of the Year honors. The senior from Glendale, Ariz. finished the 2015 regular season with an 8-2 record and 1.64 ERA in 11 starts. Gray posted one complete game and two combined shutouts in 77.0 innings, striking out 90 batters and allowing just a .179 batting average against. Gray was the league’s Pitcher of the Week on three separate occasions.
Jeremy Kennedy of Northwood was selected as the Rick Smoliak Coach of the Year award recipient. Kennedy led his team to their first regular season league title in program history with a 22-5 conference mark. The Seahawks went 39-10 overall and are currently ranked No. 4 in the latest NAIA Coaches’ Poll.
The league’s Jaffe Tilchin Champions of Character award went to USCB’s Jason Boulais. The Sand Shark pitcher made national headlines this spring with his decision to donate bone marrow to a young boy battling cancer. Boulais, a senior, is the boy’s best chance of survival, but donating bone marrow means missing part of his final baseball season, a decision that didn’t require a second thought.
"I was happy to be able to potentially help somebody out, save someone's life," Boulais said. "It's a blessing to have something I can be proud to do. I'm going to miss a few games because of it, but for someone to be able to potentially keep living is a lot more important."
20 student-athletes were also named to the Academic All-Conference team, representing all 10 of the league teams.
The conference begins on Friday when top-seeded Northwood takes on No. 6 Thomas at 11 a.m. Second-seeded Embry-Riddle will tangle with the No. 5 Sand Sharks at 3 p.m. while the nightcap will feature the No. 3 Bobcats and No. 4 Fire at 7 p.m.
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First Team All-Conference
C – Carlos Contreras, Northwood
C – Kaleb Holbrook, Thomas
DH – Keivan Berges, Northwood
1B – Willi Martin, Southeastern
2B – Gabby Mundo, Northwood
3B – A.J. Arroyo, Webber International
SS – Ashly Morris, USCB
UTL – Cody Hoffner, Southeastern
OF – Jerry Downs, St. Thomas*
OF – Liam Goodall, Embry-Riddle*
OF – Broderick Rodocker, Warner
OF – Tobias Moreno, Embry-Riddle
P – Cody Gray, Northwood
P – Stetson Nelson, Embry-Riddle*#
P – Steven Bruce, Northwood
P – Junior Delatorre, USCB
RP – Zac Grotz, Embry-Riddle
Second Team All-Conference
C – Steven Fischer, St. Thomas
C – Alex Bonilla, USCB
DH – Paul Chacin, St. Thomas
1B – Johnny Cole, USCB
2B – Josh Garcia, Embry-Riddle
3B – Luis Roman, Northwood
SS – Enderson Velasquez, Embry-Riddle
UTL – Ramon Sanchez, Webber International^#
OF – Jalbert Melo, Thomas
OF – Casey Mullenix, Northwood
OF – Josiel Colon, Southeastern
OF – Zach Saldivar, USCB
P – Tyler Cyr, Embry-Riddle
P – Clay Rideout, Southeastern
P – Patrick Kinney, Southeastern^
P – Jamie Strock, USCB
RP – Nathan Burke, Webber International
*2014 First Team All-Conference
^2014 Second Team All-Conference
#2013 First Team All-Conference
Player of the Year: Keivan Berges, Northwood
Pitcher of the Year: Cody Gray, Northwood
The Rick Smoliak Coach of the Year: Jeremy Kennedy, Northwood
The Jaffe Tilchin Champions of Character Award: Jason Boulais, USCB
Academic All-Conference
Thomas Lentine, Ave Maria
Logan Malphurs, Embry-Riddle
Liam Goodall, Embry-Riddle
Stetson Nelson, Embry-Riddle
Blake Martinez, Florida Memorial
Andrew Danner, Northwood
Ryder Albright, Southeastern
Mac LeBoeuf, Southeastern
Jonathan Martin, Southeastern
Michael Centeno, St. Thomas
Andres Hernandez, St. Thomas
Brandon Pomeranz, St. Thomas
Jose Lazaro, St. Thomas
Brent Slaughter, Thomas
Charlie McGinnis, USCB
Nick Payne, USCB
James Diven, Warner
Adam Jenkins, Webber International
Trevor Jones, Webber International
Cody Warren, Webber International