NEW HAVEN, Conn. (June 25, 2018) -- Felician University baseball star Matt Diesel on Monday was named the 2017-18 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, as announced by Commissioner Dan Mara. 

For being named the CACC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year, Diesel is now eligible for the NCAA Division II Conference Commissioner’s Association (D2CCA) Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year Award. That award will be announced by the national organization later this summer.

Diesel had a sensational senior season for the Golden Falcons in helping to lead the squad to the CACC South Division Regular Season Championship and a berth in the conference final. He was named the 2018 CACC Baseball Player of the Year, while also being the consensus Division II East Region Player of the Year by collecting the honors from the NCBWA, D2CCA and ABCA. He was also a consensus All-American, including receiving first-team honors from both the ABCA and NCBWA.

He batted .435 this season with four home runs and 65 runs batted in, while also slugging .700 and posting a .500 on-base percentage. Diesel led the CACC this season in batting average, hits (87), doubles (25), RBI and total bases (140).

Diesel, a native of Massapequa Park, N.Y., concluded his career as a three-time All-CACC honoree, and will graduate from the school as the program's all-time leader in triples (25), while ranking second in career hits (231), runs (161) and RBI (154).

For as strong as he was on the diamond, Diesel was also a star in the classroom, as he posted a 3.71 cumulative grade point average in his major of accounting. He was named a CoSIDA First-Team Academic All-American in 2018, and was placed on the organization's Academic All-District Team twice. Diesel is also a three-time honoree on the CACC All-Academic Team. Diesel's academic honors also include induction into the Chi Alpha Sigma College Athlete Honor Society.

ABOUT THE CACC
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 University, Chestnut Hill College, Concordia (N.Y.) College, Dominican (N.Y.) College, Felician University, Georgian Court University, Goldey-Beacom College, Holy Family University, Jefferson (Philadelphia University + Thomas Jefferson University), Nyack College, Post University of Waterbury, University of the Sciences, and Wilmington University.