Junior Jim Duff collected All-NE-10 first team honors after going 7-2 with a 1.82 ERA in ten regular season starts. |
Duff earns first team honors, Soulier, Karalis, and Rugel named to second team, while Roberts collects All-Rookie accolades
EASTON, Mass. (May 8, 2014) – Five members of the Stonehill College baseball team have earned Northeast-10 All-Conference honors as selected by the league's 15 head coaches, it was announced yesterday.
Junior right-handed pitcher Jim Duff (Garden City, New York/Garden City) earned first team All-Northeast-10 honors, while classmate Armand Rugel (Middletown, Rhode Island/Middletown) and senior captains Billy Karalis (Pawtucket, Rhode Island/Bishop Feehan) and Zack Soulier (Milford, Connecticut/Jonathan Law) were named to the second team. Freshman lefthander Jeremy Roberts (Reading, Massachusetts/Malden Catholic) rounded out Stonehill's NE-10 accolades with his selection to the All-Rookie team.
Duff earns All-Conference honors from the NE-10 for the third consecutive season after serving as the ace of Stonehill's pitching staff this year. He went 7-2 in ten regular-season starts, posting a 1.82 ERA with 59 strikeouts and just four walks in 74.0 innings of work. Duff's 1.82 ERA was the second-lowest among NE-10 pitchers with at least 70 frames on the mound in the regular season. He also registered two complete games (one shutout), and held opponents to a .219 batting average.
Last night, Duff helped lead the Skyhawks to their first NE-10 Championship victory since 2010 with a complete game effort in Stonehill's 11-4 win at Franklin Pierce University. He gave up two earned runs on eight hits while striking out three and walking one.
Duff was named to the NE-10 All-Rookie team as a freshman in 2012 after going 3-2 with a 2.10 ERA in 16 appearances (three starts). He recorded one complete game, two saves, and struck out 46 batters in 51.1 frames. Last season, Duff earned All-Conference third team accolades, as he went 4-4 in 11 starts with a 2.63 ERA. In his career, Duff is 15-8 overall in 38 appearances (25 starts) with a 2.20 ERA. He has recorded 169 strikeouts while only issuing 35 walks in 213 innings of work.
Senior Zack Soulier was named All-NE-10 second team after leading the conference with eight wins and posting a 2.24 ERA. |
Soulier earns second team accolades following a season in which he led the NE-10 in wins and matched Stonehill's career victories mark, with 23. The senior southpaw went 8-2 in his ten regular season starts, posting a 2.24 ERA in 68.1 innings on the mound. He held opponents to a .227 average and recorded 37 strikeouts to go with 17 walks and one complete game effort.
Soulier has been solid all season, starting with his seven-inning, five-hit effort in Stonehill's 4-0, season-opening win over Felician College in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. In his second start of the season, Soulier went six innings against the University of Bridgeport, striking out eight batters and giving up just four hits in a 3-1 Stonehill victory. With his triumph in his last start of the regular season, a 9-5 win over Merrimack College, Soulier earned his 23rd career victory, matching Billy Sittig, '06, for the most wins in program history.
Soulier is being honored by the NE-10 with a postseason award for the second time in his career, after collecting All-Rookie honors as a freshman in 2011. The senior captain has posted a career record of 23-8 with a 2.64 ERA in 42 appearances, including 34 starts. He has recorded 158 strikeouts and handed out 58 walks in 238.1 innings, recording three complete games. Soulier has also gotten the job done in the classroom, as he has been named to six NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Rolls and five Athletic Director's Honor Rolls.
Karalis, a senior outfielder, earns All-Conference accolades from the NE-10 for the second time in his career. Karalis was a key offensive piece for Stonehill this season, as he provided power out of the leadoff spot. The captain belted a career-best seven homers in the regular season, to go with eight doubles, a triple, and 24 RBI. He also scored 33 runs, drew a team-best 29 walks, and stole 17 bases while slugging .422. In Stonehill's 6-5 win at Assumption College on April 2nd, Karalis went 3-for-5 with a double and two home runs to lead the Skyhawks to a Northeast Division victory,
Karalis is a career .261 hitter with 33 doubles, nine triples, ten homers, and 94 RBI. As a sophomore in 2012, he was named to the NE-10 All-Conference third team after hitting .285 with 12 doubles, 33 runs, and 35 RBI. In the classroom, Karalis has been named to the NE-10 Commissioner's Honor Roll all seven semesters and to the Athletic Director's Honor Roll on five occasions.
Junior Armand Rugel anchored Stonehill's bullpen this season with 12 saves and a 1.24 ERA. |
Rugel collects All-Conference honors from the NE-10 for the first time in his career following his successful junior campaign. The right-handed relief pitcher tied for the NE-10 lead with 12 saves in the regular season, and posted a 1.24 ERA with 37 strikeouts and 11 walks in 36.1 innings. Rugel pitched more than one inning in 11 of his 22 appearances, and four of his 12 saves took at least two innings of work. He held opponents to a .173 average and recorded three or more strikeouts on seven occasions.
Rugel is 11-5 in his career with a 2.43 ERA, 134 strikeouts, and 51 walks in 148 innings. He has appeared in 58 contests (six starts), picking up 21 saves and posting two complete game efforts. In the classroom, Rugel has been named to three NE-10 Honor Rolls and one Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
Roberts rounds out Stonehill's All-NE-10 awards this season with his selection to the All-Rookie Team. Roberts made nine appearances in his rookie campaign, including four starts, and posted a record of 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA. Roberts recorded 20 punchouts and issued seven walks while holding opponents to a .203 batting average in 33.1 frames.
His top performance of the season came in Stonehill's 5-1 victory at No. 10 nationally ranked Southern New Hampshire University on April 27th. Roberts earned the win after lasting 6.2 innings and giving up just one run on three hits.
With yesterday's 11-4 victory over Franklin Pierce in the first round of the NE-10 Championship, Stonehill has advanced to this weekend's double elimination bracket, hosted by Southern New Hampshire University at Penmen Field in Manchester, New Hampshire. Stonehill (29-18, 17-10 NE-10), the third seed from the Northeast Division, will continue its quest for the fourth NE-10 Championship in program history tomorrow at noon, as the Skyhawks are set to take on Adelphi University (22-21, 14-12 NE-10), the fourth seed from the NE-10 Southwest Division.
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