Emory University juniors Hans Hansen, Brian Hernandez, Kyle Monk and Jackson Weeg were all named to the University Athletic Association First Team with freshman Billy Dimlow being named to the Second Team as the All-UAA teams were released late Tuesday afternoon.
In addition, after a third straight 30-win season and the ninth under his tutelage, Head Coach Mike Twardoski along with Associate Head Coach Bobby Perez and assistant coach Sean Kelly were selected as the recipients of the UAA Coaching Staff of the Year Award. Earlier this season, Twardoski became just the 39th active head baseball coach at the NCAA Division III level to eclipse the 500 wins plateau.
Hansen makes his second career appearance on the All-UAA First Team after a terrific season so far for the Eagles, going 8-1 with a 1.30 earned run average with a 40:9 K:BB ratio in 69.2 innings. The Playa del Rey, CA native is the UAA leader in ERA and victories and ranks among the best in Division III in ERA (9th), wins (24th), walks allowed per nine innings (29th, 1.17) and WHIP (41st, 1.01). Hansen was honored as the UAA Pitcher of the Week three times this season and began the year with an outstanding 24.2 inning scoreless streak, the second longest such streak in Emory history.
Hernandez, a force in the Emory lineup all season long, earns his first All-UAA accolade with First Team honors. The Miami, FL native leads the team with 14 extra base hits (4 HR), 43 RBI, .513 slugging percentage and is second with a .364 batting average. Hernandez has also produced 16 multi-hit and 13 multi-RBI games to top the squad. This season, the Emory designated hitter has been named the UAA Hitter of the Week twice and made the D3Baseball.com National Team of the Week on February 23rd.
After making the All-UAA Second Team as a sophomore, Monk cracks the First Team lineup following a superb regular season as a junior. Monk has been a weapon for Coach Twardoski out of the pen in 2016, going 4-3 with a 1.32 ERA and 11 converted save opportunities in 24 relief appearances, pitching multiple innings in 16 of his outings. The Cortlandt Manor, NY native leads the UAA and is fourth nationally in the saves category and with one more save, will set the Emory single season record. He also was recently named to the 2016 CoSIDA Academic All-District and was the UAA Pitcher of the Week on February 15th.
Weeg collects his second straight All-UAA First Team honor on the strength of his strong junior season. In 14 appearances (13 starts) this season, the electric southpaw is 7-0 with a UAA-leading 71 strikeouts and a 2.42 ERA in 85.2 innings pitched. Earlier this season, Weeg was the lone Eagle named to the UAA All-Tournament team after recording a 1.08 ERA in 16.2 innings, racking up nine punch outs compared to six walks and pitched into the ninth inning in both of starts against Washington University.
Dimlow marks the third and final member of the Emory starting rotation to earn All-UAA kudos, being named the Second Team. Dimlow finished the regular season with a 6-2 record in nine games (8 GS), pitching to the tune of 2.62 ERA and 41 strikeouts in 53.2 IP. He ERA puts him fifth among the UAA ranks and is ninth in Association in K's. He burst onto the scene with stellar start to his career, going 6-0 with a 1.88 ERA in his first seven starts including a seven inning shutout performance, allowing five hits, no walks with three punch outs for his sixth career win against then-ranked #6 Birmingham Southern on April 6th.
The Emory University Eagles, winners by a score of 6-5 over Thomas More on Wednesday, will be back in action Thursday afternoon in the NCAA Regionals against either Shenandoah or Marietta at 2:30pm at William R. Bowdoin Field on the campus of Berry College in Mount Berry, GA.