Baseball Earns Five CCC Postseason Major Awards; 17 Gulls Receive League Honors

Posted: May 16, 2023

BEVERLY, Mass. – Seventeen members of the No. 4/6 nationally ranked Endicott baseball team have earned Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) postseason honors, as announced by the league office earlier today.

The Gulls claimed five of the six major awards that the conference doles out and a school-best 15 All-CCC selections among the league's first, second, and third teams.

Caleb Shpur (East Canaan, Conn.) headlined the award winners with his second straight CCC Player of the Year award.

Gabe Van Emon (Lexington, Mass.) and John Mulready (Peabody, Mass.) received CCC Pitcher of the Year and CCC Defensive Player of the Year honors, respectively, while Thomas Barbieri (Cranston, R.I.) also won the CCC Scholar-Athlete award.

Bryan Haley rounded out the list of major award winners with CCC Co-Coach of the Year laurels.

The remaining award winners for the Gulls included:

ALL-CCC FIRST TEAM

SP – Rian Schwede (Whitman, Mass.)
SP – Gabe Van Emon (Lexington, Mass.)
RP – Chris Jenkins (Mansfield, Mass.)
C – John Mulready (Peabody, Mass.)
2B – Robbie Wladkowski (Norwood, Mass.)
3B – Kyle Grabowski (Westfield, Mass.)
OF – Caleb Shpur (East Canaan, Conn.)

ALL-CCC SECOND TEAM

SP – Nicholas Cannata (Marlborough, Conn.)
RP – Max Tarlin (Sharon, Mass.)
1B – Jake Nardone (Wakefield, Mass.)
OF – Joseph Millar (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.)
OF – Nicolas Notarangelo (Taunton, Mass.)
DH – Danny MacDougall (Taunton, Mass.)

ALL-CCC THIRD TEAM

RP – Kyan Bagshaw (Amherst, N.H.)
SS – TJ Liponis (Scarborough, Maine)

MAJOR AWARD WINNERS

CALEB SHPUR | SR. | OF
Player of the Year | All-CCC First Team

Shpur is only the second student-athlete in program history to earn Player of the Year honors twice in his career joining Mike Kochiss '17 M'18 (Fairfield, Conn.) on the exclusive list.

In 43 games played (all starts in center field), Shpur slashed .387/.473/.657 and compiled 57 runs scored, 70 hits – 11 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs – 52 runs batted in, 30 walks, 40 stolen bases, and only struck out 14 times in 181 at-bats.

He also registered 21 multi-hit games (2 – 13 | 3 – 5 | 4 – 1 | 5+ – 2) and 16 multi-RBI contests (2 – 12 | 3 – 2 | 4 – 0 | 5+ – 2).

Shpur's longest hitting streak this season is 16 games, while his longest on-base streak spanned 18 contests. Additionally, the Gulls are 38-5 overall this season with Shpur in the second spot of the lineup.

This is his third career All-CCC First Team honor.

CCC RANKS: runs (1st), hits (1st), doubles (12th), triples (5th), home runs (2nd), RBI (2nd), total bases (1st, 119), walks (5th), sacrifice flies (2nd, 6), stolen bases (1st), batting average (4th), on-base percentage (6th), slugging percentage (3rd).

NCAA RANKS: hits (30th), runs (26th), sac flies (29th), stolen bases (5th), stolen bases per game (8th, 0.93), total bases (37th).

GABE VAN EMON | SR. | LHP
Pitcher of the Year | All-CCC First Team

Van Emon is now the seventh Pitcher of the Year honoree in program history (first since 2017).

In 12 appearances this season (11 starts), Van Emon produced an 8-0 record and one save in 67 innings pitched (two complete games) for a miniscule 0.94 earned run average (ERA).

The hard-throwing lefty yielded 41 hits, nine runs (seven earned), and 18 walks in those frames alongside 84 strikeouts (11.28 K/9).

Endicott is 11-0 in games started by Van Emon this season and 12-0 total after he shut the door with a two-inning scoreless save (0 H, 0 BB, 3 K) last Saturday to clinch the CCC Championship against No. 13/18 Salve Regina.

This is Van Emon's second career All-CCC selection (second team, 2022).

CCC RANKS: games started (3rd), wins (2nd), complete games (1st), shutouts (1st, 1), innings pitched (4th), strikeouts (2nd), strikeouts per game (1st), batting average against (7th, .172), ERA (1st, 0.94).

NCAA RANKS: ERA (1st), hits (15th, 5.51), strikeouts (33rd), victories (17th), walks plus hits per inning pitched (4th, 0.81).

JOHN MULREADY | JR. | C
Defensive Player of the Year | All-CCC First Team

Mulready is the second student-athlete in program history to receive CCC Defensive Player of the Year honors in the five-year existence of the award (most all-time).

In 43 games (36 starts at catcher, 4 at DH), Mulready slashed .321/.379/.500 with 27 runs scored, 52 hits – 12 doubles, one triple, five homers – 29 RBI, and 11 walks.

He also registered a .997 fielding percentage on 324 total chances (300 putouts, one error), caught 15 runners stealing (.366), and had 23 assists (one double play).

Mulready's game-calling and framing also has played a significant role in the Gulls currently leading all of NCAA Division III in ERA (2.94), hits allowed per nine innings (7.23), and WHIP (1.13).

Overall, the Gulls are 32-4 this season with Mulready starting behind the plate.

This is Mulready's second career All-CCC First Team selection.

CCC RANKS: hits (10th), doubles (7th), home runs (12th), RBI (24th), total bases (12th, 81), batting average (19th), slugging percentage (19th), total chances (3rd), putouts (3rd), fielding percentage (1st among catchers), runners caught stealing (2nd).

THOMAS BARBIERI | SR. | C
Scholar-Athlete

Barbieri is the third Scholar-Athlete of the Year award winner in program history joining Max Tarlin (Sharon, Mass.) and Colin Sitarz '12 M'13 (West Hartford, Conn.) on the list.

Barbieri demonstrated exactly what it means to be a scholar-athlete during his time at Endicott.

While competing on the baseball team, he also found time to earn a double major in accounting and finance and maintain a 3.93 cumulative grade point average (GPA).

Barbieri has received multiple academic honors including being part of Endicott's Scholars Program/Honors College, being an eight-time honoree on the Dean's List, and being a member of the Sigma Beta Delta Honors Society. Babieri was also the recipient of the Picerne Family Scholarship.

He has worked as a tax consulting intern at PwC M&A and was offered a job prior to the start of his senior year.

Barbier has also completed internships with The Procaccianti Companies, with Melick & Porter Law Firm, and Rhode Island Family Court.

He is an EC L.E.A.D. member and was chosen to give a speech at the year-end speech to the entire L.E.A.D. group of more than 100 student-athletes.

On the diamond, Barbieri has appeared in 24 games this season (nine starts at catcher) and put together a .357/.514/.786 slash line alongside nine runs scored, 10 hits (1 2B, 1 3B, 3 HR), eight RBI, and seven walks.

The Gulls are 7-2 overall when Barbieri starts behind the plate.

The senior backstop has also played a pivotal role on the pitching staff leading the country in ERA, hits allowed per nine innings, and WHIP.

BRYAN HALEY | HEAD COACH | 16TH YEAR
Co-Coach of the Year

Haley claimed his fifth career CCC Coach of the Year award (2010, 2013-14, 2022-23) after leading the Gulls to their second straight league title.

The Gulls went 15-1 in league play to earn the No. 1 seed in the CCC Tournament and finished off what they started with a 1-0 victory over No. 13/18 Salve Regina in the title game.

Endicott is currently 39-6 overall, one win shy of tying the school record, and will represent the CCC later this week in the NCAA Tournament as the league's automatic qualifier.

The Blue and Green are currently ranked No. 4/6 nationally, which marks the highest national ranking and best overall ranking in both polls in program history.

As a team, Endicott ranks top-15 nationally in 12 different categories.

Haley has compiled a 425-235 overall record (.644) and a 190-68 conference mark (.736) in his 16 seasons at Endicott.