Seven Seahawks named to All-CAA baseball teams

WILMINGTON, N.C. (UNCWSports.com) – Led by first-team selections Ryan Jeffers, Mason Berne and Clark Cota, UNCW landed seven players on the Colonial Athletic Association’s All-Conference squads that were released on the eve of the championship tournament in Harrisonburg, Va.

The Seahawks’ seven all-conference selections mark the four straight season they had had at least seven earn honors.

Cole Weiss was named to the second—team while Gage Herring, Greg Jones and Landon Roupp were All-Rookie selections.

Jeffers repeats as the first-team catcher in 2018. The Raleigh, N.C., native is hitting .324 with a conference-leading 14 home runs entering the championship tournament. Jeffers is second on the Seahawks with 46 runs batted in and leads the CAA with a .481 on base average, thanks in part to a team-leading 47 walks.

Berne, who was named CAA Player-of-the-Week three times this season, leads the league in hitting at .353, second in home runs (12) and is third in slugging percentage at .597. In the final week of the regular season, Berne hit .538 with two roundtrippers, including a 2-run game-winning homer against Charleston the series opener on Thursday at Brooks Field.

Cota rounds out the first-teamers for the Seahawks after tying the program’s single season record of 13 saves. Cota led one of the top bullpens in the nation with a 3-0 record in addition to the 13 saves while compiling a 1.59 earned run average and limiting opponents to a meager .140 batting average. Cota was a third-team selection in 2017.

Weiss, who was named the CAA Player-of-the-Week two weeks ago, joins the All-CAA squads for the first time. Weiss has hit .236 for the season with three home runs, scored 28 runs and 23 knocked in. Over his last 10 games, as UNCW went 7-3 overall and 6-2 in the league, Weiss hit .363 and posted a .450 on base average. In conference play, Weiss hit .280 with two round trippers and 14 RBI’s.

UNCW’s three All-Rookie selections match the 2008 squad that earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament and posted a school-record 44 wins.

Herring owns a 2-1 record and a 2.76 ERA overall and 2.30 in CAA action. The righthander moved into the starting rotation after making six appearances as a reliever. He was named CAA Rookie-of-the-Week on Mar. 26 after six innings of one-hit baseball at Delaware.

Roupp, although winless, has fashioned an ERA of 2.96 and struck out 45 in 45 2/3 innings over 12 starts. He also was named CAA Rookie-of-the-Week on mar. 6 after limiting Princeton to a hit over five innings of shutout baseball.

Jones, meanwhile, stepped into the starting role at shortstop as a rookie and hit .260 with 38 runs scored, three home runs and 15 stolen bases. He drew 24 walks and was hit 17 times to power a .391 on base average.