Perfect Game highlights Bulldogs in NEC preview
SMITHFIELD, R.I. – The Bryant University baseball team has been tabbed as the preseason favorite in the Northeast Conference by Perfect Game.
Friday's honor makes it a clean sweep in the preseason for the Black and Gold as they've been picked as the league favorite by all four major publications and the league coaches.
The Bulldogs have won each of the last seven NEC Regular-Season titles and eight of nine since playing a full league schedule in 2010. It is the longest streak in the country. Bryant has won three tournament titles since the 2012-13 season, its first season eligible for postseason play.
Perfect Game also announced its preseason All-NEC team and its preseason major award winners on Friday. Redshirt sophomore Ryan Ward (Millbury, Mass.), sophomore pitcher Tyler Mattison (Fort Ann, N.Y.) and freshman infielder Jake Gustin (Peabody, Mass.) are projected to sweep the major awards.
Ward set DI program records for batting average (.409), hits (101) and total bases (157) on his way to Perfect Game/Rawlings First Team Freshman All-American honors and Perfect Game/Rawlings Second Team All-American honors last spring. He clubbed 22 doubles, five triples and eight home runs, and led the Black and Gold with 52 RBI.
Mattison was a Second Team All-NEC selection as a true freshman after winning five games and posting a 3.40 ERA in 14 appearances. He recorded a quality start in four of his seven starts and was masterful in NEC play, going 4-2 with a league-low 1.70 ERA.
Gustin, who was also projected as the league's rookie of the year by D1Baseball.com and Baseball America, was a Perfect Game/Rawlings Honorable Mention All-American at Peabody Memorial. He hit .529 with six doubles, four triples and three home runs as a senior.
Ward and Mattison were both listed on the preseason All-NEC list and were joined by Chris Wright (Cumberland, R.I.), James Ciliento (Mahwah, N.J.), Jimmy Titus (Stafford, Conn.) and Steve Theetge (Syracuse, N.Y.).
Wright clubbed five home runs and drove in 36 runs in his second season as Bryant's everyday first baseman. Ciliento hit .377 with 14 doubles and 46 runs scored in 2018, while Titus returns after missing all but two games to injury last year. He hit eight home runs as a true freshman in 2017. Theetge enters his final season in Smithfield just seven wins shy of tying the program record for career victories. He won six games a year ago and struck out a career-high 70 batters.
Bryant opens the 2019 season with a three-game series at Abilene Christian beginning on Friday, Feb. 15.
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