Urso and Six Spartans Earn All-Sunshine State Conference Honors
MELBOURNE, Fla. - Thirty-seven baseball student-athletes earn All-Sunshine State Conference accolades in 2017. The University of Tampa earns eight awards including Pitcher of the Year and Coach of the Year after securing the 2017 conference championship.
Voting for the All-SSC baseball awards was conducted among the league's baseball coaches.
SSC Baseball All-Conference History: All-SSC Teams | Players & Coaches of the Year
Tyler Curtis of Lynn University is named the 2017 SSC Player of the Year. The senior third baseman ranks first in league On Base Percentage (.518) and second in Batting Average (.433), Slugging Percentage (.733), and Total Bases (137). The Newburgh, New York native also ranks Top-10 in league Runs (59), Hits (41), Walks (31), and Home Runs (13). Curtis is the sixth Fighting Knight to win Player of the Year and the fifth to do so in the last six years1.
David Lebron is awarded Pitcher of the Year following a 7-0 season on the hill for Tampa. In 83.1 innings pitched, he struck out 88 batters and registered a WHIP of 1.128. The junior from Homestead, Florida recorded a 2.59 Earned Run Average and .219 Batting Average Against across his 14 appearances in 2017. Lebron becomes the 10th Spartan to be named SSC Pitcher of the Year2.
Eckerd College's Sam Cochrane, an outfielder from Ocala, Florida, earns Freshman of the Year. The Triton ended the regular season with 70 hits in 205 At-Bats for a .341 Batting Average. Cochrane led Eckerd in At-Bats, Triples, Total Bases, Stolen Bases, Fielding Percentage, and tied for the lead in Hits. Cochrane is the second Triton to be named SSC Freshman of the Year3.
SSC baseball coaches award Coach of the Year to Joe Urso for the 11th time4 in his career, second consecutive. Urso guided the Spartans to a 37-12 overall record and 20-4 conference record in 2017. The Spartans concluded the regular season with an 18th SSC championship, which pushes the program past Florida Southern College for the most in conference history. UT's postseason campaign for national title number eight starts with an 18th straight NCAA Division II South Region Tournament appearance.
Logan Browning and Mitch Reeves of Florida Southern repeat as All-SSC First Team members from 2016. J.D. Osborne (Tampa), Chris Corbett (Rollins College) and Jancarlos Cintron (Nova Southeastern University) move up to First Team from Second Team honors a year ago. Second Team honoree Dylan Harris is the only athlete listed to win All-SSC honors three times5.
Player of the Year = Tyler Curtis, Lynn
Pitcher of the Year = David Lebron, Tampa
Freshman of the Year = Sam Cochrane, Eckerd
Coach of the Year = Joe Urso, Tampa
| 2017 All-SSC First Team | ||||
| Pos. | Name | School | Yr. | Hometown |
| 1B | J.D. Osborne^ | Tampa | Sr. | Whitby, Ontario |
| 2B | Jancarlos Cintron^ | Nova Southeastern | Sr. | Bayamon, P.R. |
| 3B | Tyler Curtis | Lynn | Sr. | Newburgh, N.Y |
| SS | Kevin Santa | Tampa | Sr. | Yabucoa, P.R. |
| C | Chris Corbett^ | Rollins | Sr. | Stokesdale, N.C. |
| OF | Mitch Reeves* | Florida Southern | Sr. | Winter Springs, Fla. |
| OF | Peter Nicoletto | Rollins | Sr. | Fort Lauderdale, Fla. |
| OF | Julian Abreu | Barry | Sr. | Miami, Fla. |
| OF | Cody Burgess | Florida Southern | Jr. | Winter Garden, Fla. |
| DH | Vin Cosenzo | Tampa | Sr. | North Caldwell, N.J. |
| UT | Darren Miller | Tampa | Jr. | Key West, Fla. |
| UT | Logan Browning* | Florida Southern | Jr. | Lakeland, Fla. |
| RP | Cameron Hanes | Florida Southern | Sr. | Apopka, Fla. |
| SP | David Lebron | Tampa | Jr. | Homestead, Fla. |
| SP | Jake Walsh | Florida Southern | Jr. | Indialantic, Fla. |
| SP | Brad Case | Rollins | So. | Pelham, N.Y. |
| SP | Andy Marzheuser | Florida Tech | So. | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| SP | Matt Hardy | Nova Southeastern | Sr. | Pembroke Pines, Fla. |
| - | ||||
| 2017 All-SSC Second Team | ||||
| Pos. | Name | School | Yr. | Hometown |
| 1B | Jeremy Vasquez | Nova Southeastern | Jr. | Palm City, Fla. |
| 2B | Nick Conti | Eckerd | So. | Orlando, Fla. |
| 2B | Laz Rivera* | Tampa | Sr. | Miami, Fla. |
| 2B | Miguel Ceballos | Lynn | Sr. | Miami, Fla. |
| 3B | Chase Turner | Saint Leo | Jr. | Tampa, Fla. |
| SS | Pat Dorrian | Lynn | Jr. | Kingston, N.Y. |
| C | Austin Mauer | Florida Southern | Jr. | Orlando, Fla. |
| OF | Daniel Szpik^ | Florida Tech | Jr. | Toronto, Ontario |
| OF | Kevin Suarez^ | Nova Southeastern | Sr. | Miami, Fla. |
| OF | Alex Mata* | Saint Leo | Sr. | Ft. Meyers, Fla. |
| OF | Brandon Gomez* | Nova Southeastern | Sr. | Miami, Fla. |
| DH | Nick Capra | Florida Tech | Sr. | Melbourne, Fla. |
| UT | Dylan Harris~ # | Saint Leo | Jr. | Land O Lakes, Fla. |
| RP | Caleb Jakes | Rollins | Jr. | Maitland, Fla. |
| SP | Ty Cohen* | Florida Tech | Jr. | Woodstock, Ga. |
| SP | Tyler Deel | Florida Tech | Sr. | Jacksonville, Fla. |
| SP | Dillon McCollough | Eckerd | So. | Deltona, Fla. |
| SP | AJ Chacon | Rollins | Fr. | Lutz, Fla. |
* = 2016 All-SSC First Team
^ = 2016 All-SSC Second Team
~ = 2015 All-SSC Honorable Mention
= 2014 All-SSC First Team
# = 2014 All-SSC Freshman of the Year
1Previous Lynn Player of the Year winners: John Silviano (2016), Sal Giardina (2014), Jason Matusik (2013), Anthony Boza (2012), Nicolas Boisvert (2007).
2Previous Tampa Pitcher of the Year Winners: Preston Packrall (2014), Mike Adams (2013), Sean Bierman (2012), Kevin Ferguson (2007), Sergio Perez (2006), Eric Beattie (2003), Charlie Manning (2001), Mike Valdes (1998), Ricky Burton (1996).
3Previous Eckerd Freshman of the Year Winners: Mitchell Calandra (2016)
4Urso ranks fifth in Coach of the Year awards among SSC coaches in a single sport and sixth overall: 19 - George Samuel, Barry Tennis (15 Men's / 4 Women's), 18 - Chris Catanach, Tampa Volleyball, 15 - Chris Bellotto, Florida Southern Softball, 13 - Jarrett Slaven, Tampa Women's Cross Country, 13 - Mike Perez, Lynn Tennis (9 Women's / 4 Men's)
5Harris was named First Team and Freshman of the Year in 2014, Honorable Mention in 2015. The redshirt-junior received Second Team in 2017 after sitting out 2016.