BEVERLY, Mass. – After reaching the championship game of the 2013 NCAA Division III New England Regional baseball tournament, Endicott College has had three players named to the D3Baseball.com All-New England team.
Tyler Hitchcock (Abington, Mass.) was one of three starting pitchers named to the First Team, while outfielder Colin Sitarz (West Hartford, Conn.) and relief pitcher Kevin Dupras (Belchertown, Mass.) each earned Third Team nods.
Hitchcock, the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Pitcher of the Year and a member of the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team, is earning his second All-New England honor this season after being selected to the Second Team of the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA). He posted a 9-1 record this season, throwing five complete games and holding an earned run average of just 1.89. Hitchcock tossed five and a third innings of one-run ball in Endicott's Regional opener against St. Joseph's, earning a no-decision, and then collected a victory in the Gull's win over Southern Maine in the winner's bracket championship, where he threw four innings of one-hit shutout relief.
Sitarz was also named to the NCAA Regional All-Tournament team during a record breaking season that saw him become the all-time leaders in hits and RBIs in Endicott history. Sitarz hit .344 this year with 55 hits, including a team-high 12 doubles and four home runs. It was a long-ball during Endicott's 4-3 win over St. Joseph's Maine that was Sitarz's 214th career base hit, breaking a record set in 2002. He continued his heroics by driving in the winning run against Wheaton College in the second day of the NCAA Regional with a single up the middle in the tenth inning. Sitarz drove in 36 runs and scored 38 times this season, in which he also became the Endicott leader in at-bats (626) and games played and started (181). He also was 10-12 on stolen base attempts and his career stolen base percentage of .852 (46-54) puts him fourth all-time for the Blue and Green.
Dupras was the closer of the Endicott staff, collecting seven saves in 22 appearances and posting a record of 3-2. Dupras's earned run average was just 2.41, and he struck out 39 batters while issuing just 9 walks. He finishes his Endicott career with a 3.64earned run average in 131 innings pitched, and Endicott records with nine career saves and 58 career appearances. Dupras appeared in four of Endicott's five games during the NCAA Regional Tournament and earned the victory in their 4-3 victory over St. Joseph's, pitching three innings in relief and striking out six batters.
Endicott set a program record with a 35-14 season, won their first CCC Championship since 2006 and won their first three games at the NCAA Division III Regional in Harwich, Mass., coming one victory short of the Division III College World Series.
