NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) is thrilled to unveil the members of the 2021 All-NECBL Teams, as announced by Commissioner Sean McGrath on Tuesday.
Comprised of a position player at each spot on the diamond, a designated hitter, three starting pitchers, three relievers and one closer on all sides, the league honored 48 student-athletes on their outstanding summers in the New England League. New to the 2021 postseason awards format, the best of the best from both divisions were named All-NECBL First Team selections, while both the North and South Division were allotted division-specific recipients for the second tier of all-league honorees.
Thirteen of the league’s 14 teams were represented on the All-NECBL Teams, with the North Shore Navigators, Martha’s Vineyard Sharks and Ocean State Waves leading all organizations with five selections. Each of those three teams saw two individuals in the All-NECBL team, three Navigators a part of the All-North team, the Sharks accumulating four All-South nominations and the Waves seeing two of their student-athletes garnering All-South picks.
North Shore saw two of their pitchers selected to the All-NECBL team in Luke Marshall (Stonehill) and James Sashin (San Diego), Martha’s Vineyard shortstop Jake Berger (Harvard) and first baseman Ryan Hernandez (Houston) as well as pitcher Zach Fernandez (URI) and catcher Johnny Tuccillo (Bryant) for Ocean State; outfielder Joe Lomuscio (Stanford), Marshall and Sashin made the All-North squad for the Navigators; Hernandez, Berger, pitchers Ryan Ramsey (Maryland) and Alex Galvan (Louisville) being awarded All-South nominations for the Sharks and Tuccillo and Fernandez making the All-South cut for the Waves.
Four teams each saw four of their student-athletes claim all-league and all-division honorees, including the Keene Swamp Bats, Mystic Schooners, Valley Blue Sox and Upper Valley Nighthawks. Keene shortstop Zach Bushling (UConn), pitcher Bryce Hellgeth (Dayton), outfielder Thomas Joseph (Jacksonville) and outfielder Troy Schreffler (Maryland) made the cut for the All-North team; outfielder Brendan Cumming (Princeton) was selected to the All-NECBL team while teammates infielder Chris Brito (Rutgers), catcher Daniel Crossen (Northeastern) and outfielder Barry Walsh (Boston College) were honored as members as the All-South team; Valley outfielder Brian Hart (Marist) and shortstop Mason LaPlante (Yale) were selected to the All-NECBL team while teammates outfielder Luke Franzoni (Xavier), second baseman Jack Housinger (Xavier) and pitcher Grant Kipp (Yale) were awarded spots on the All-South Squad and Upper Valley outfielders Gehrig Anglin (Wright State) and Alan Roden (Creighton), pitcher Ryan Towle (UMass Lowell) and infielder Max Viera (Northeastern) accumulated spots on the All-NECBL squad.
The 2021 league champion Danbury Westerners joined the Newport Gulls and Vermont Mountaineers with two awardees as part of the all-league teams, and the Winnipesaukee Muskrats rounded out the honorees with one selection. Danbury outfielder Cameron Masterman (Louisville) and pitcher Justin Solimine (Manhattan) claimed All-South nominations; Newport catcher Matthew Wood (Penn State) was awarded the catching position on the All-NECBL team and teammate pitcher Kellan Tulio (Louisville) was named to the All-South team and Vermont pitchers Ryan Steckline (Cincinnati) and Cole Roland (Dartmouth) were nominated to the All-NECBL and All-North teams, respectively. Winnipesaukee outfielder Cole Johnson (Kansas State) was an All-North honoree for the Muskrats.
Stay tuned later this week when the league announces the remainder of its annual end-of-year awards!
