Baseball Trio Named First Team All-Northeast Conference
Blue Devils open NEC Tournament play against Bryant on Thursday.
Three members of the Central Connecticut baseball team earned First Team All-Northeast Conference honors it was announced on Wednesday night at the pre-tournament banquet held at Dodd Stadium in Norwich, CT. Senior Connor Fitzsimons, junior Andrew Hinckley and sophomore Dean Lockery were all named to the First Team, marking the first time since 2010 that CCSU had three first team honorees.
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Fitzsimons was named the NEC First Team catcher, ranking second on CCSU and among the league leaders with a .304 batting average in all games. He led the Blue Devils with 29 runs batted in and had a career-high 12 extra-base hits, including nine doubles and two homeruns. He handled the CCSU pitching staff, which ranked third in the league in team earned run average and had four shutouts on the season. He also cut down 13 stolen base attempts on the season.
Hinckley earned a spot on the NEC First Team as a pitcher. In his first campaign with the Blue Devils, Hinckley posted an 8-3 record with 55 strikeouts in 73.1 innings to lead the team. He posted a 3.31 earned run average and hurled an NEC-best seven complete games and ranked second on the circuit with two shutouts. Hinckley's eight wins are one shy of matching the program's single-season mark. Hinckley was also recently named to the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Top 18 Watch List.
Lockery was selected to the First Team at second base. He led the team with a .348 batting average in all games and ranked second in the conference with a .384 average in NEC-only contests. Lockery was among the league leaders, and led CCSU, in walks (28), hits (70) and on base percentage (.429). He was the only Blue Devil to start all 55 games and has started all 103 games over the past two seasons. He was named to the NEIBA All-New England Third Team earlier on Wednesday.
The Northeast Conference championship begins on Thursday, May 26, with Central going against top-seeded Bryant at 12:00 p.m. Second-seeded Sacred Heart will face Faileigh Dickinson in the day's other matchup. Every game of the double-elimination tournament will be available to stream free at NECFrontRow.com.