College Baseball
Eight Broncs Honored by NJCBA
Davis Coach of the Year

LAWRENCEVILLE-Eight men in.  Eight members of the Rider University baseball team were honored by the New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association on the Division I All-State Team and head coach Barry Davis was named the NJCBA Coach of the Year.

Junior Mike Thomas (Forest Hill, Md./Fallston) was named the Pitcher of the Year and freshman Tyler Smith (Westmont/Haddon Twp.) was named the Rookie Pitcher of the Year.

Junior A.J. Albee (Ashley, Pa./Hanover Area), sophomore Brandon Cotten (Wiconisco, Pa./Williams Valley), junior Steve Galella (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) and senior Nick Wojnowski (Baldwin, Md./Calvert Hall) were named First Team All-State, while junior Mason Heyne (Shrewsbury, Pa./Susquehannock) was named to the Second Team.

Freshman Adam Wayman (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) was named to the All-Rookie team.

"We are excited to have eight of our players honored by the New Jersey Coaches Association," said Rider head coach Barry Davis, who guided the 2010 Broncs to 33 wins, the second most ever at Rider, and a berth in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championship tournament.  "They represented Rider with a high level of play on the field and were worthy of the selections."

Thomas has the best record (8-2) in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, leads the MAAC with 91 strikeouts in 90 innings and has the fifth best earned run average in the conference at 3.19. In the all-important MAAC games, Thomas is 5-0.

Smith, the Rider closer, shares the MAAC lead in saves with seven and his six wins is tied for sixth best in the MAAC, as is his 2.93 earned run average.

Albee, the Bronc second baseman, has compiled a team-high 78 hits and 56 RBI in 54 games for the 33-21 Broncs while scoring a team-record 56 runs. He also leads the team with eight home runs while batting .353 and his 163 assists this year broke the Rider record of 156 set in 2001.

Albee was a Second Team All-NJCBA selection last year.

Cotten, considered one of the best defensive centerfielders in the MAAC, is batting .360 with 62 hits and 52 runs scored in 48 games, while compiling 121 put outs and three assists while committing just two errors. Cotten was a member of the NJCBA All-Rookie team last year.

Galella, the Rider designated hitter, is batting .370 with 60 hits in 51 games.

Wojnowski, an outfielder, owns a team-high .399 batting average and a team-high slugging percentage of .607. Wojnowski has 14 doubles, seven home runs and 42 RBI in 52 games.

Heyne is batting .324 with 20 doubles, just two shy of the Rider single-season record, and 53 RBI while owning a .986 field percentage at first base.

Wayman is batting .316 from his third base position with 59 hits in 50 games.

Rider (33-21) is the third seed in the upcoming MAAC tournament, held May 26-30 in Fishkill, NY, and will take on the second seed and tournament host, Marist College, Wednesday at 7pm. In the first game of the four-team tournament, regular season champion Canisius will play the fourth seed, Manhattan, at 3pm.

-ru-