Joe Urso Named NCBWA National Coach of the Year

DALLAS - The University of Tampa's Joe Urso was named the NCBWA National Coach of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, as announced Friday. The Spartans' Preston Packrall was named NCBWA All-America Second Team.

Tampa's Urso earned his ninth SSC Coach of the Year distinction in 2014-third-straight. After winning the 2013 NCAA Division II National Championship, Urso led his Spartans to their third-straight SSC Championship (16 th overall) with a 22-1 conference record. Tampa also set a new NCAA Division II baseball single-season win percentage mark with its 47-2 (.959) during the regular season. The Spartans advanced to Cary, N.C. after sweeping through the South Regional to defend their national title. Tampa has been ranked No. 1 since week one of the season in every NCAA Division II poll.

A senior from Tampa, Fla., Packrall led the SSC with seven victories in conference play and was named SSC Pitcher of the Year. Packrall was perfect on the season with a 9-0 (7-0 in SSC action) record. He led all conference starting pitchers with a 1.63 ERA in 2014 and was second with two shutouts. In 66.1 innings of work, Packrall struck out 40 batters, walked just 11 batters and allowed just 12 earned runs. The senior pitched 40.2 innings in conference play with 22 strikeouts, seven bases-on-balls and 11 earned runs. Opponents managed just a .216 batting average against Packrall.

The Sunshine State Conference also had seven players named NCBWA All-America Honorable Mention including: C Sal Giardina, Jr. (Lynn), OF Michael Danner (Tampa), OF Sheehan Planas-Arteaga (Barry), DH Stephen Dezzi (Tampa), UT Dylan Harris (Saint Leo), SP Jimmy Gutowski (Eckerd), RP Bill Mendek (Lynn).