PEMBROKE, N.C. – Three members of the No. 19 West Chester University baseball team earned spots on the 2018 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II Postseason All-America list on Wednesday, with junior
Jared Melone earning a Second Team All-American nod while seniors
Shane Dressler (Third Team) and
Nick Ward (Honorable Mention) both found spots on this prestigious group.
Delta State (Miss.) standout senior Zack Shannon was named the 2018 NCBWA Player of the Year and LeMoyne junior Josiah Gray took home Pitcher of the Year honors in Wednesday's release. After leading the No. 4 Prairie Stars to a 47-9 overall record and leading the program to its first-ever Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) East Division title, University of Illinois Springfield Head Coach Chris Ramirez was tabbed the 2018 NCBWA Coach of the Year.
West Chester's three selections to the NCBWA All-America Team this year are the most for the Golden Rams in over a decade and 2018 marks the first time WCU has landed individuals on the list since Dylan Tice's Honorable Mention selection in 2015.
Named the 2018 ECAC Player of the Year earlier this afternoon, Melone paced the Golden Rams and led the nation with a .469 batting to go along with a PSAC-best 69 RBI in 48 games. Melone's batting average in 2018 was the second highest in West Chester history (trailing leader Tom Nuneviller's .470 by just .001) and his .414 career batting average through his first two seasons with the Golden Rams stands as the No. 2 best mark in program history.
Splitting time between designated hitter and first base, Dressler ended his senior campaign ranking third on the squad with a .352 batting average and second on the team with 63 hits. His 17 doubles this year were the most on the Golden Rams through 48 games and his 52 RBI this year were third most by any PSAC representative in 2018.
Fellow senior Ward ended his career at West Chester tied atop the single-season home run list with 13 long balls, while his 69 runs scored in 2018 stand as the second most in WCU history. Overall, Nick ranks sixth on West Chester's career runs scored list with 175 and his 25 career dingers put the shortstop at No. 3 on the Golden Rams all-time homers list.
With Melone, Dressler, and Ward holding down the top of the Golden Rams' lineup for the entirety of the season, West Chester claimed the 2018 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division title and entered the 2018 PSAC Championship as the top seed in the tournament. Despite bowing out of the PSAC's after just two games, the Golden Rams were selected as the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region and headed to Reading, Pa. looking to defend their 2017 regional title. In a tournament that fellow PSAC representative Mercyhurst University would eventually go on to win, WCU suffered two one-run defeats at Owls Field to exit the NCAA Tournament with a 31-17 overall record.
As a team, the Golden Rams led the PSAC in four major statistical categories and the team's .323 team batting average in 2018 stands as the No. 13 highest in NCAA DII.
Complete Team/Release
