White Named NCBWA East Region and NE-10 Pitcher of the Week

Lisbon, N.H., native earns weekly honor for first time after one-hitter

EASTON, Mass. (March 3, 2011) – Stonehill College junior lefthander Michael White (Lisbon, N.H./Lisbon Regional) has been named the East Region Pitcher of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) to go with Northeast-10 Conference Pitcher of the Week honors from earlier in the week.
White earns the weekly honors for the first time in his career after he faced just one over the minimum in firing eight innings of one-hit shutout work in his first start of the 2011 season on Sunday against Chestnut Hill College at the Ripken Experience Northeast Challenge. He struck out a career-high ten batters and walked none in the 2-0 Stonehill victory, retiring the first 11 batters he faced before giving up his lone hit with two out in the fourth. That batter was immediately gunned down trying to stretch the hit into a double.

The leadoff batter in the fifth reached on an error and was sacrificed to second before stealing third. White stranded the runner right there by getting a strikeout and groundout to keep the game scoreless at the time. He has not allowed a run over his last 19.2 innings of work dating back to last season and allowed just two runs (0.56 ERA) over his last four starts. White also collected four hits, including a double, two stolen bases and a run scored over the weekend on offense for the Skyhawks. He hit 2-for-6 with a double in Stonehill's 7-5 season-opening win over West Virginia Wesleyan College on Friday and then went 1-for-4 with a pair of steals and a run scored in Saturday's 2-1 extra innings win over Felician College.

White, named to the Tino Martinez Division II Player of the Year Preseason "Watch List", is coming off a breakout sophomore season in which he emerged as one of the dominant lefthanders in the region. He earned third team All-Northeast-10 Conference honors at utility and was named to the NEIBA All-Star Game at Fenway Park, having starred for the Skyhawks on the mound, at the plate and in the outfield. He earned All-Tournament team honors at the NCAA East Regional after firing a two-hit shutout in the Skyhawks NCAA Tournament opener against the University of New Haven, striking out seven and walking just one. In Stonehill's late season 12-game winning streak, White made three starts and was 3-0 with a 0.74 ERA, 19 strikeouts and four walks over 24.1 innings.

White started 39 of the 42 games he played in 2010, seeing time in leftfield (28 starts), pitcher (8) and designated hitter (5), hitting .308 (36-for-117) with 12 runs scored, three doubles, a home run, 11 RBI and team-high matching 11 stolen bases on 14 attempts. He also made nine appearances (eight starts) on the mound and the lefthander was 6-2 (5th NE-10 wins) with a 2.22 earned run average (12th), 51 strikeouts and 14 walks over 69.0 innings pitched, limiting opposing batters to a mere .180 batting average (5th). White was near flawless in the field, committing just one error in 92 chances (.989%).

White, a consensus All-East Region performer for the Stonehill men's soccer team this past fall, has played 63 games in his two seasons for the baseball team (51 starts) and is hitting .289 (50-173) with 14 runs scored, six doubles, a home run and 20 RBI with 15 steals. He has also made 17 career appearances (12 starts) on the mound, posting a 7-3 record and 2.80 ERA with 70 strikeouts and 25 walks in 96.1 innings pitched.

White led the Northeast-10 Conference with nine goals and 22 points during the soccer season this past fall, earning All-Conference second team honors and helping the Skyhawks qualify for their first postseason appearance since 1999.

Stonehill (3-2, 0-0 NE-10), ranked third in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II East Regional poll, returns to action on Friday, March 11, when it faces Assumption College for a non-conference doubleheader in Auburndale, Fla., to kickoff its annual spring break trip. The Skyhawks first home games are a scheduled non-conference doubleheader with Post University on Friday, March 25, starting at 1 p.m.