May 17, 2006
VIRGINIA BEACH, VA - The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) announced its 2006 All-Conference teams at the annual awards banquet held in Norfolk, Va at Norfolk State University, the host school of this year's MEAC Baseball Championship. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) placed three of its players on the squad.
Senior Catcher Morgan Schirmer, junior Shortstop Eric Gaines and junior pitcher Dustin Longchamps were all named second team All-MEAC selections.
Schirmer (Georgetown, Del./Delaware Tech C.C.) earned his first All-Conference honors for an outstanding senior campaign. Schirmer hit .289 on the season (third on the team) collecting 35 hits, 16 runs and 17 RBI. He had eight doubles while playing in 42 games on the season.
Gaines (Oberlin, Ohio/Eastern Michigan Univ.) earned the selection in his second year with the Hawks after transferring from Eastern Michigan University. Coming off of an outstanding summer where he was dubbed the `best pro prospect' in a wooden bat league, Gaines kept his hitting hot, tallying a .305 average, the second highest on the team. The Hawk's lead-off hitter, he drove in 22 runs, scored 30 and collected 54 hits, six of which were triples. Gaines started all 47 games he played in while recording a .424 slugging percentage, also second on the team.
The Hawks final selection, Dustin Longchamps (Lewiston, Maine/Central Maine C.C.), transferred to UMES and had an immediate impact. Longchamps quickly became the Hawks' ace, tallying six wins on the season and a very respectable 4.67 ERA. Longchamps pitched 79 innings for the Hawks, the most of any pitcher by almost 24 innings. He tallied seven complete games in 13 starts while striking out 58 batters.
"We are very proud of these young men," said Head Coach Bobby Rodriguez. "Not just these three, but the whole team all gave a lot this season. The Hawks have had a tremendous improvement this year and we hope to keep the momentum going here in the MEAC Tournament," he added from Norfolk, Va., where UMES prepares for a 6:00 pm match-up against the Coppin State Eagles on Thursday.
UMES is having their best season since 1995 when the Hawks went 25-28 overall and are enjoying their highest seed in over five seasons.
The Head Coaches and Sports Information Directors voted on the teams that selected Bethune-Cookman College's Mervyl Melendez as Coach of the Year after his Wildcats finished the season undefeated in MEAC play. It is no wonder that because of this honor outfielder Nabil Sagbini represented BCC as Player of the Year and their Jose Ortiz-Rivera was Rookie of the Year.
In all, the Wildcats placed seven players on the All-MEAC teams. Five of which were first team selections. Norfolk State University, the second seeded team, had five players on the team while the Hawks, Delaware State and North Carolina A & T had three players each. Coppin State had one player while Florida A & M, the team who finished seventh and did not make the tournament, had two selections.
For complete listings of the 2006 All-MEAC teams log on to www.MEACsports.com.
The 2006 MEAC Baseball Championship begins on Thursday, May 18 at the Marty L. Miller Baseball Field on the campus of Norfolk State University in Norfolk, Va. Tournament play begins at 10:00 am with No. 1 BCC taking on last year's MEAC Champion, No. 6 North Carolina A & T. No. 2 Norfolk State plays No. 5 Delaware State at 2:00 pm while the No. 4 Hawks face No. 3 Coppin State at 6:00 pm. Tickets are $5 per day for adults and $3 per day for children under 12, students and senior citizens.
For complete MEAC Baseball Championship coverage, log on to MEACsports.com. To follow the Hawks in the tournament log on to UMEShawks.com
