NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Davidson junior Ryan Wilson secured distinction as the Atlantic 10 Baseball Player of the Year while George Mason sophomore Chad Gartland collected Pitcher of the Year honors. Additionally, Richmond freshman Jordan Jaffe garnered the Rookie of the Year accolades with Saint Joseph's veteran head coach Fritz Hamburg rounding out the superlative awards with his second-ever Coach of the Year laurels.
The Atlantic 10 released the four major awards along with the All-Conference, All-Rookie and All-Academic teams Wednesday prior to the second round of 2023 A-10 Baseball Championship, which began Tuesday at The Diamond in Richmond, Va. The superlative honors, All-Conference teams and All-Rookie team were voted on by the 12 A-10 baseball head coaches while the All-Academic team was selected by the baseball communications directors.
Wilson, a product of Durham, N.C., served as the 'Cats' all-around offensive threat throughout the 2023 campaign, pacing the A-10 in numerous key statistical categories including home runs (17), runs scored (68), on-base percentage (.523), slugging percentage (743), OPS (1.266) and hit-by-pitches (28). A 2022 A-10 second-team choice, the junior leads Davidson with 22 multi-hit games and 14 multi-RBI games while ranking third league-wide with a .377 batting average and 136 total bases. Notably, Wilson reached base — by hit, walk or HBP — in every game of the regular season (51), and enters the A-10 Championship within reach of the program’s reached-base streak (54), set by Will Robertson in 2017.
Hailing from Rochester, N.Y., Gartland (6-2) ranks within the upper echelon for each of the major statistical pitching categories amongst conference competition, tossing an A-10 second-best 87.2 innings while slotting in at second for ERA (3.49), sixth for strikeouts (79) and eighth for batting average against (.246). In a critical league victory for the Patriots, the sophomore right-hander composed his first career complete game and shutout as Mason topped Dayton on April 8, good for Gartland's lone A-10 Pitcher of the Week honors this season as well.
A freshman infielder out of Thousand Oaks, Calif., Jaffe earned a start in 48 of 52 games at third base for the Spiders throughout the season, locking up the three-hole in the lineup as he demonstrated league-wide top 10 capability in slugging percentage (6th, .622), RBI (2nd, 58), doubles (3rd, 20) and home runs (t-6th, 12). A one-time Rookie of the Week, Jaffe logged seven hits with three dingers and a pair of doubles for six RBI and five runs scored in a banner series against Massachusetts. He also put together a 10-game hit streak midway through the season, April 8-23, with successful at-bats versus UVA, GW, UMass, Towson, Fordham. Finally, the freshman has proven an effective defender for Richmond, posting a solid .939 fielding percentage at third base.
Hamburg, a 15-year veteran at Saint Joseph's, successfully managed a competitive Hawks squad en route to the program's first-ever Atlantic 10 regular-season title, guiding SJU to a 27-22-1 overall mark and 17-7 in league play for an outright claim on the championship and the No. 1 overall postseason seed. Now a two-time A-10 Coach of the Year, Hamburg and Co. compiled a decisive 20-5-1 record at home, the best mark in program history, with an 11-1 split against conference competition, winning seven of eight A-10 series with three sweeps. The Hawks also broke team records for home runs in a season (71) as an offense and strikeouts in a season (416) as a pitching staff.
Joining Wilson (outfield), Gartland (pitcher) and Jaffe (third base) on the All-Conference First Team are Davidson's Bennett Flynn (relief pitcher) and Will Schomberg (pitcher), Fordham's Zach Selinger (second base), Mason's Connor Dykstra (catcher), George Washington's Michael Kohn (designated hitter), Rhode Island's Billy Butler (outfield) and Alex Ramirez (shortstop), Saint Joseph's Brett Callahan (outfield), Saint Louis' Cam Redding (first base) and VCU's Brandon Eike (third base).
The All-Conference Second Team features Davidson's Jacob Friend (catcher), Dayton's Marcos Pujols (first base), Fordham's Peter DeMaria (designated hitter), George Mason's Ben Shields (pitcher), GW's Chris Kahler (pitcher), Rhode Island's Michael Anderson (first base) and Ryan Andrade (relief pitcher), Richmond's Johnny Hipsman (outfield) and Jared Sprague-Lott (second base), Saint Joseph's Ryan Cesarini (outfield), Domenic Picone (pitcher), Nate Thomas (third base) and Luca Trigiani (shortstop) and Saint Louis' Patrick Clohisy (outfield) and Cole Smith (designated hitter).
The All-Rookie team stars first-team selection Jaffe and second-team choice Anderson in addition to Davidson's Michael O'Shaughnessy, Fordham's Daniel Bucciero and Tommy McAndrews, Mason's James Quinn-Irons, Massachusetts' Justin Blumenthal, Rhode Island's Braeden Perry, Saint Joseph's Ryan DeSanto, Will McCausland and Ryan Weingartner and Saint Louis' Ben Cherico.
The All-Academic team includes Wilson, DeMaria, Hipsman, Sprague-Lott, Callahan, Thomas, Trigiani and Redding as well as UMass' Steve Luttazi, Rhode Island's Addison Kopack, Richmond's Alden Mathes and Saint Joseph's Peter Gallo.
The 2023 Atlantic 10 Baseball Championship continues with second round contests Wednesday between top-seeded Saint Joseph's and No. 4 Saint Louis at 11:00 a.m. and No. 2 overall Davidson and sixth-seeded George Mason at 3:00 p.m. The Wednesday tripleheader concludes with the tournament’s first elimination game between fifth-seeded Richmond and No. 7 Rhode Island in the nightcap, first pitch slated for 7:00 p.m. ET.
The entirety of the A-10 Baseball Championship will be streamed live via ESPN+.