Gasper, Ward earn ABCA First Team All-Region honors

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – Bryant University baseball senior Mickey Gasper (Merrimack, N.H.) and redshirt freshman Ryan Ward (Millbury, Mass.) have been selected as a first team honorees to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings Division I Northeast All-Region team, announced by the ABCA on Wednesday morning.

ABCA/Rawlings All-Region First Team selections are nominated for ABCA/Rawlings All-America honors. The ABCA/Rawlings NCAA DI All-Americans will be announced on Saturday, June 16.

Gasper, who was also a first team selection last year, started all 56 games for the Black and Gold this season on his way to First Team All-NEC and Second Team All-ECAC honors this spring. He hit .340 with 70 hits, 13 doubles, eight home runs, 59 runs scored – all career-highs – 43 RBI and 42 walks. Gasper became the first player in DI program history to walk 40+ times in consecutive seasons, while also becoming just the sixth player in DI program history to drive in 40+ runs and score 50+ runs in the same season. Last week, the New York Yankees selected Gasper in the 27th round of the MLB Amateur Draft.

Ward is one of just four freshman to earn first team all-region honors across the country. He enjoyed a prolific spring for the Bulldogs as he broke the program record for hits in a single season with 101 and became the first player in DI program history to hit over .400 in a single season. He posted 22 doubles, five triples, eight home runs, a program-record 150 total bases and struck out just 10 times on the year. He also drove in 52 runs and scored 51 times, becoming just the third player in DI program history to drive in 50+ runs and score 50+ runs in the same season. 

Gasper and Ward give the Bulldogs eight first team all-region honorees since the Black and Gold made the move to Division I. Bryant has now had a first team honoree in each of the last three years and 16 total.