Piroh, Boucher Earn All-MASCAC Honors
SALEM, Mass. – Salem State's Zach Piroh (Bridgeport, Conn.) and Jake Boucher (Cheshire, Conn.) were named to the 2022 All-Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) Baseball Team, as voted on by the league's eight head coaches on Wednesday. First baseman Piroh, last season's MASCAC Player-of-the-Year, earned first team honors, while Boucher a first-team selection a year ago was named second team.
Piroh led the conference with nine home runs while batting .347. His 92 total bases topped the MASCAC and he finished third with 36 RBI and fifth in hits with 52. Piroh's 11 doubles and .613 slugging percentage were sixth best in the league. He ended his career with 116 career hits. Boucher, a second baseman, finished in the top-10 in the MASCAC in hits (51), doubles (11) total bases (64) and runs (31). The right-hander also made 12 appearances on the mound, going 1-0 with a six saves, which were second most in the MASCAC. Boucher struckout 18 batters in 13.1 innings.
Bridgewater State's Jay Wladkowski and Massachusetts Maritime's Brodey Tinkham were named the 2022 Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Player and Pitcher of the Year.
The sophomore from Norwood, Mass. earns MASCAC Player of the Year honors after helping the Bears to the MASCAC regular season crown and top spot in the league tournament. He ended the regular season first in the league in RBI with 43, hits at 61 and doubles at 16, second in runs scored with 44 while stealing the third-most bases with 21. He batted at a .379 clip with a .448 on-base percentage while adding 21 walks over 161 at bats. In the three game sweep of MCLA, he went 7-for-13 with two doubles, three RBI, five runs scored and three walks.
Taking home 2022 MASCAC Pitcher of the Year honors, Tinkham, a junior from Norton, Mass., pitched 71.2 innings with a 1.76 ERA, 49 strikeouts, five complete games, a shutout and seven wins over 12 appearances. He earned MASCAC Pitcher of the Week honors on March 21 after throwing a complete game three hitter, allowing one run, yielding no walks and striking out 11 in the Buccaneers' 5-1 victory over NVU-Lyndon.
Scott Emerson of Bridgewater State was named the 2022 MASCAC Rookie of the Year after registering a .371 batting average, .437 on-base percentage, eight doubles, a triple, 32 RBI, 43 runs scored, 18 walks and 31 stolen bases. His 31 steals is currently 11th in Division III. The second baseman from Peabody, Mass. earned both MASCAC Player and Rookie of the Week on May 2 after batting .524 (11-21) in a 5-1 week for the Bears with a double, four walks, six stolen bases, 10 runs scored and three runs batted in. Went 5-for-6 with a double, two walks, three stolen bases and four runs in a MASCAC doubleheader sweep of Mass. Maritime; 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI in a setback to Brandeis University; and 4-for-11 with two walks, three stolen bases, four runs and two RBI in a conference three-game sweep of Worcester State.
Greg Zackrison of Bridgewater State was selected as the 2022 Champion's Choice Coach of the Year by his peers. Zackrison led the Bears to their first MASCAC regular season title since 2012 and the number one seed in last week's tournament.
Grabbing a spot on the MASCAC First Team All-Conference along with Wladkowski, Tinkham and Emerson are Fitchburg State's Vincent Eramo and Connor Morehouse, Framingham State's Ryan Boyle, Mass. Maritime's Brenden Baiardi, Zach Sylvia and Brett Velzis, Salem State's Piroh, Westfield State's Nick Martin and Samuel Palmer and Worcester State's Ben Smith.
Earning a spot on the MASCAC second team are Bridgewater State's Joe Frechette, Matt Josselyn, Tyler DasilvaMedeiros and Matthew Seavey, Fitchburg State's Zachary Malek, MCLA's Randy Adams, Mass. Maritime's Aidan Henderson and Alex Schlapak, Salem State's Boucher, Westfield State's Nolan Florence and Damien Maniscalco and Worcester State's Sean Devin and Thomas DiBattista.
The Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference, the nation's first Division III men's and women's playing conference, has a rich and storied tradition of competitive success while celebrating excellence in the classroom. MASCAC member schools include Bridgewater State University, Fitchburg State University, Framingham State University, MCLA, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Salem State University, Westfield State University and Worcester State University. Two other institutions, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Plymouth State University, are affiliate members of the conference in the sports of football and men's ice hockey, while Western Connecticut State University joined the conference as a football affiliate member in 2013. Dean College, Eastern Nazarene College, Elms College, Mitchell College and Springfield College joined as men's golf affiliates in 2019 and New England College in 2021.