Fluegge, McDonald, Slattery Named to All-New England Team
Babson Park, MA --- Senior teammates Corey McDonald and Nick Fluegge along with sophomore Shaun Slattery have each earned been honored on the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Coaches Association (NEIBA) baseball team in a vote by the regions coaches. McDonald has also been chosen to represent WSU at the senior all-star game.
Babson Park, MA --- Senior teammates Corey McDonald (Hudson, MA) and Nick Fluegge (Ware, MA) along with sophomore Shaun Slattery (Gardner, MA) have each earned been honored on the New England Intercollegiate Baseball Coaches Association (NEIBA) baseball team in a vote by the regions coaches.
Slattery received honors as a Second-Team honoree while McDonald (3B) and Fluegge (1B) received nods to the Third-Team.
Slattery was one of three closers honored on the All-New England squad. Slattery (3-3) finished the year with a school-record nine saves while he posted a 2.43 earned run average in 21 appearances. He also fanned 38 in 29.1 innings while his ERA is the third-best season total for a reliever in the program record book.
McDonald, the 2011 MASCAC Player of the Year and 2010 First-Team All-NEIBA honoree, swatted a MASCAC best .473 average with 42 runs, 12 doubles, five homers and 26 RBIs. McDonald led or tied for the conference lead in (61), total bases (90) and on base-percentage.
McDonald has the third-best average in the NCAA Division III right behind John Apostolo of Mitchell (.482) and Chad Mullins of Case (.473). McDonald's on-base percentage is also the sixth highest total nationally (0.550) while his slugging percentage is 44th (0.698).
McDonald was also chosen to represent the conference and Worcester State in the Senior All-Star game which will be held at LeLachuer Park in Lowell on June 2nd at 7 PM. The last WSU player chosen was All-New England closer Kevin Hayes last season.
Since transferring from CCRI in 2010, McDonald has the second-highest batting average in the record book in just two seasons with an eye-popping clip of .440 while he also has 118 base-knocks, 83 runs, 13 homers and 68 RBIs.
Fluegge wraps up his outstanding career with a sensational senior campaign batting .366 with nine homers and 38 RBIs. Fluegge led the conference in homers and slugging (.732) while he was second in on-base percentage (.486), tied for third in total bases (82) and seventh in both batting and runs driven in.
Fluegge's slugging percentage is ranked 19th in Division III while his homers runs per game are ranked 23rd (0.25) and his total is 31st.
In his four-years wearing a Lancer uniform, Fluegge has hit .376 with 30 dingers, 125 RBIs and 102 runs. Fluegge's homers are second only to Lancer Hall of Famer Eric Swedberg's total of 46 while his slugging percentage (.695) and runs batted in are the third-most in school history.
The Blue and Gold finished the year at 23-15 under 17th year head coach Dr. Dirk Baker. Worcester State qualified for their 10th MASCAC Tournament since the four-team competition started in 2001 while the squad also earned its sixth-ever ECAC Tournament berth. The team was bounced by Coast Guard in the opening round of ECAC's.
In addition to Fluegge, McDonald and Slattery, Corey Batista (Fall River, MA - 1st Team) and Joshua Ferreria (Fall River, MA - 2nd Team) of Bridgewater State along with Roman Mondalto (Amesbury, MA - 2nd Team) of Westfield State and John Phelan (Walpole, MA - 3rd Team) of Fitchburg State were also chosen to the squad from the MASCAC.
Jim Shult of Eastern Connecticut was the NEIBA Player of the Year, closer Ed Bernstien of Tufts was the All-New England Pitcher of the Year and Matt LaBranche of WNEC was the regions choice for coach of the year.