The Empire 8 Athletic Conference has announced the
2015 Baseball All-Conference teams as voted on by the conference coaches. In addition, the Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Coach of the Year have been selected.
Junior
Jayson Yano of the Stevens Institute of Technology baseball team was named Empire 8 Conference Pitcher and Player of The Year while the
Stevens staff was voted the Coaching Staff of the Year.
Scott Eisenmenger of St. John Fisher College was tabbed the Rookie of the Year.
Yano becomes the first player in E8 history to claim both individual awards and the first student-athlete in Stevens baseball history to claim pitcher or player of the year honors. He led the club in numerous hitting categories including batting average (.344), hits (52) and runs batted in (37). His 52 hits put him eighth on the single-season record and his 13 doubles put him tied for fifth on the single season list.
He was equally as dominant on the mound, as he was tied for the conference lead with six victories and was fourth in strikeouts with 61. Outside of conference play, he made five appearances against teams that were selected for NCAA Tournament, going 3-2 against them. During the month of April, the Foothill Ranch, Calif. native hurled 33.0 innings allowing just one earned run with 34 strikeouts against seven walks.
The Stevens coaching staff, led by fourth head coach Kristaps Aldins, guided the team to 29 wins in 2015 and a second place finish in the E8 Tournament. Pitching coach Arlan Freeman helped the pitching staff record an ERA of 3.08 and 357 strikeouts against only 142 walks. This marks the second time Stevens has been recognized for its coaching, previously earning the honor in 2012.
Eisenmenger started 37 games of the 41 he played for the Cardinals. Offensively he hit .364 to rank second on the team and seventh among E8 players. He totaled 55 hits, 12 doubles, 32 RBIs and 93 total bases. He registered at least one hit in all but six games and had three or more hits on five different occasions. He had a 12-game hit streak in the middle of the season and finished the season with an active 11-game hit streak. Defensively the first baseman recorded 347 putouts, 11 assists and a .986 fielding percentage. Eisenmenger is Fisher's ninth player since 2001 and the second straight player to be named Rookie of the Year with Marc Iseneker earning the award last year.