Vincent D'Ambrosio of Mahopac, N.Y., Earns Earns NEIBA and ABCA All-New England Baseball Honors

2016 Jun 10

Vincent D'Ambrosio has been honored by the NEIBA and ABCA.

WPI senior Alex Venditti picked up two more All-Region nods and was named the NEIBA and ABCA New England Player of the Year Tuesday. He was tabbed an All-New England first teamer Monday by D3baseball.com. Seniors Vinny D'Ambrosio and John Mulready were also honored by both organizations as third team members.

Venditti, the 2016 NEWMAC Athlete of the Year, 2013 NEWMAC Rookie of the Year and two-time NEWMAC All-Conference honoree, led the conference with 16 home runs, 62 RBI, 122 total bases and an .853 slugging percentage while ranking second in batting average (.434) and walks (30), and third on base percentage (.538). On a national level, Venditti is second in home runs, home runs per game, batting average and slugging percentage in addition to being third in RBI per game. With only eight teams still alive in the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship, the Crimson and Gray sit sixth in home runs (44) and third in home runs per game (1.10).

The two-time NEWMAC Co-Player of the Week in 2016 belted a pair of home runs in a single game against Worcester State, Babson and Becker and grand slams versus Wentworth, Coast Guard and Elms. He also went yard to lift the Engineers to a 4-2 victory in their semifinal series opener with Wheaton. Venditti enjoyed a 15-game hitting streak and has 18 multi-hit games to his credit this season. Defensively, he has a fielding percentage of .994 (348-of-350) and been a part of 36 double plays.

Venditti is also one of 18 Division III seniors selected to take part in 2016 New England All-Star game in June. This year's all-star game will be held at Fitton Field on the campus of Holy Cross on Sunday, June 5, beginning at 6pm.

D'Ambrosio batted .369 with 59 hits, including 12 doubles and two triples, 21 walks, 21 RBI, 46 runs scored and 16 stolen bases on 18 attempts in 40 games played. His runs and stolen base totals ranked first on the team and was one of three Boynton Hillers with a pair of triples. The NEWMAC Co-Player of the Week for his performance in Florida, registered 16 multi-hit games including a four against Coast Guard on April 16 and five against Springfield a week later. He also produced the walk off RBI single against the Bears on April 15. In the postseason, D'Ambrosio went 10-for-21 (.476) with three multi-hit games.

Mulready batted .412 with 54 hits, including a team-best 15 doubles to go with three home runs, 38 RBI, 20 runs scored and a .595 slugging percentage. He currently boasts a season-best 16-game hitting streak and has put together at least two in half of them, including three each against Becker and MIT, and a 4-for-4 day versus MIT in the ECAC title game. Overall he has a hit in 32 of 37 games played and 14 with two or more, which features a 4-for-4 performance in the opener versus Worcester State and the aforementioned finale versus MIT.

WPI (27-14) captured the NEWMAC West Division for the second consecutive season and were tabbed as the second seed in the ECAC Division III New England Baseball Championship. It is the second year in-a-row the Boynton Hillers have won 20-plus games, and sixth overall, for 11th-year head coach Mike Callahan. The home run happy Engineers were upended in the NEWMAC semifinals by eventual champion Wheaton and fell to MIT in the ECAC finals.

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 45 WPI project centers throughout the Americas, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.