Anthony Capuano of Stoneham, Mass., Earns NEWMAC Baseball Postseason Honors

2017 May 9

Anthony Capuano was one of four WPI student-athletes earn NEWMAC Baseball All-Conference Accolades.

Four members of the WPI baseball team were named NEWMAC All-Conference and skipper Mike Callahan was selected as the NEWMAC Baseball Coach of the Year by his peers following the regular season. Ryan Tropeano, Steven Gallagher and Nick Comei made the first team as Anthony Capuano headlined the second team.

Tropeano, who paced the NEWMAC in runs, hits, stolen bases and batting average, is fourth nationally in runs (56), fifth in runs per game (1.51), eighth in hits (68), 10th in stolen bases (30), 11th in stolen bases per game (0.81), and 28th in batting average (.430). At the conference level, the sophomore is also ranked third in triples (4) and on-base percentage (.492). He ended the season on a 15-game hitting streak that featured 11 games with two or more hits after enjoying an eight-gamer to begin the campaign and a 10-game streak from March 11th to April 3rd.

Gallagher, last season's NEWMAC Rookie of the Year, is nationally-ranked in RBI per game (9th - 1.41), RBI (10th - 52), home runs (16th - 10), sacrifice flies (22nd - 6) and home runs per game (24th - 0.27). The sophomore also posted a .345 batting average, 50 hits, nine doubles, 44 runs and 22 walks, as well as a .426 on-base and .628 slugging percentage which were all up from his initial campaign. The RBI and sacrifice fly totals lead the conference while he is third in home runs, fourth in runs. He had an eight-game hitting streak from April 8th until April 18th that featured a pair of 2-for-3 outings with 11 RBI and six runs scored in the twinbill at Coast Guard which led to NEWMAC and D3Baseball.com weekly honors.

Comei batted a career-best .390, which ranked 159th out of 200 Division III student-athletes, to go with career highs of 28 walks, 36 singles, 12 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 18 stolen bases, 39 RBI, 43 runs, a .497 on-base percentage and a .644 slugging percentage. The co-captain is second in stolen bases and OBP, fourth in assists (108) and fifth in runs, hits, RBI, total bases (94) and slugging percentage among NEWMAC student-athletes. He earned NEWMAC and D3baseball.com weekly accolades following a five-game multi-hit streak down in Florida. Comei was honored again by the conference two weeks later for his play during the early part of the home slate. He later went on a 10-game hitting streak April 8 to April 18.

Capuano is 32nd with nine home runs and 33rd with 0.25 runs per game on the national scrolls. After snapping a 3-3 stalemate with a 2-RBI double in the season finale triumph versus Johnson & Wales, the co-captain hit .333 with career bests of 46 hits, nine home runs, 33 RBI, 33 runs and a .616 slugging percentage. Capuano is second with five sacrifice flies and fourth in home runs overall and fifth in both home runs (5) and total bases (49) in NEWMAC contests. He registered a hit in 10 of the first 11 games, including seven in-a-row, to begin the New England slate before a six-game multi-hit streak from April 13 to 18. He then closed out the season with a five gamer that featured home runs in the last two.

Callahan became only the second head coach in to earn NEWMAC Baseball Coach of the Year recognition in back-to-back years. This season he guided the Engineers to their third consecutive NEWMAC West Division title and a share of the overall NEWMAC Regular Season for the first time since 2009. The club went 25-12 with a three-game sweep of Coast Guard, as well as both versus Emerson, MIT and Babson in divisional crossover games. It is also the fourth consecutive winning season, and eighth out of 12, for Callahan.

About Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Founded in 1865 in Worcester, Mass., WPI is one of the nation's first engineering and technology universities. Its 14 academic departments offer more than 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science, engineering, technology, business, the social sciences, and the humanities and arts, leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. WPI's talented faculty work with students on interdisciplinary research that seeks solutions to important and socially relevant problems in fields as diverse as the life sciences and bioengineering, energy, information security, materials processing, and robotics. Students also have the opportunity to make a difference to communities and organizations around the world through the university's innovative Global Projects Program. There are more than 40 WPI project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.