NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Felician College senior shortstop Aaron Brill has been tabbed as the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Baseball Player of the Year, teammate junior Jerry Vasto was named Pitcher of the Year, Dominican freshman Jayson Gray earned Rookie of the Year accolades and Nyack College was chosen as the Team Sportsmanship Award winner by the league’s coaches and announced today by CACC Commissioner Dan Mara.  Nyack skipper Matthew Cornacchione was voted as Coach of the Year as determined by the conference’s sports information directors.

A native of West Palm Beach, Florida, Brill has helped guide the Golden Falcons to the #2 seed  in the upcoming CACC Baseball Final Four Tournament.  The two-time CACC Player of the Week recorded a 22-game hitting streak from March 4 through April 12 en route to finishing the regular season third in the conference with a .374 batting average.  In conference play, Brill was second in the conference with a .381 batting average.  He leads the conference with 67 hits, 107 total bases, a .570 slugging percentage and triples with a school record 11.  Brill is ranked in the top ten in several other offensive categories including runs (39, 3^rd), doubles (10, 6^th) and runs batted in (31, 6^th).  In the field, he committed no errors in 80 chances in conference play from the middle of the diamond.

Vasto, from Atlantic Highlands, N.J., anchored a tough Felician pitching staff in 2014 with a 6-2 record with one save including a perfect 4-0 mark in conference contests.  He completed the regular season with a 1.46 earned run average (2^nd, CACC) overall and a 1.32 ERA in seven CACC appearances.  In 13 appearances for the Golden Falcons, Vasto punched out 68 by way of the K, which was second in the conference circuit and opponents only hit .202 against the lefty.  He was named the CACC Pitcher of the Week twice and recorded his lone shutout of the season against Wilmington University on April 14^th. 

Gray has been a terror on the base paths for the Chargers leading the conference in stolen bases with 37 thefts and was only caught twice.  The speedy leadoff hitter from New Rochelle, N.Y. also leads the league with 43 runs scored after reaching base via 41 hits, 19 walks and one hit-by-pitch.  Gray has been solid in the outfield for Dominican by only committing two errors and owning a .944 fielding percentage.  He was also named to the CACC All-Conference Second Team outfield.

Cornacchione led his Nyack Warriors into the conference tournament as the #3 seed with a 12-8 mark in league contests, which completed the total turnaround from a year ago in which the Warrior nine finished 8-12.  The last time Nyack qualified for postseason play was in 2012, when Cornacchione was honored by his peers as CACC Coach of the Year.  Cornacchione completed his fourth season at the helm of Nyack’s baseball program and placed junior outfielder John Kennedy on the CACC All-Conference First Team as well as second team junior utility Cole Tobin. 

Joining Brill, Vasto and Kennedy on the CACC First Team are: junior catcher Matt Lopes, senior 3B Josh Hampton, junior utility Frank Samluk, junior pitcher Jamie Treml and junior reliever Tyler Fries from Wilmington; sophomore 1B Scott De Jong and graduate outfielder Joe Petosa from Felician; senior 2B John Sczepanski and junior DH Ken McCormick of Philadelphia University; sophomore outfielder Brendan Looby of Chestnut Hill College; and junior pitcher Don Crook of Post University.

Along with Gray and Tobin, the CACC Second Team is comprised of: Dominican senior catcher Tyler Clark; senior 1B Julien Casaubon and senior 2B Mike Shada of Post; senior 3B Joe O’Donnell of Caldwell College; junior SS Josh Swirchak, junior outfielder Sam Goines and junior pitcher Rob Gore of Wilmington; senior outfielder Gabriel Fellin, freshman DH Brennan Price and junior pitchers Jack Fowler and Matthew Facendo of Felician; and junior pitcher Dominic Raia III of Chestnut Hill.

Senior pitcher Ryan Calby of Dominican, junior pitcher Cory Dean of Philadelphia U., sophomore pitcher John Holland of Felician and senior 2B Paul Nyitray of Caldwell were named honorable mention.

The Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference is an NCAA Division II Conference composed of 14 institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. The member institutions are Bloomfield College, Caldwell College, Chestnut Hill College, Concordia (NY) College, Dominican (N.Y.) College, Felician College, Georgian Court University, Goldey-Beacom College, Holy Family University, Nyack College, Philadelphia University, Post University, University of the Sciences and Wilmington University.

2014 CACC Baseball All-Conference Teams 

First Team

Second Team

Honorable Mention

Player of the Year:  Aaron Brill, Felician

Pitcher of the Year:  Jerry Vasto, Felician

Rookie of the Year:  Jayson Gray, Dominican

Coach of the Year: Matt Cornacchione, Nyack

Team Sportsmanship Award: Nyack College