The Emory University baseball team made its third consecutive appearance in the College World Series held in Appleton, Wisconsin, finishing seventh in the country during the 2016 season.
The Eagles ended the campaign with a 34-12 overall record and were ranked fifth in the final American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball News magazine national poll and sixth in the final D3Baseball.com rankings. Emory concluded the year with top overall team earned-run average, ranking first among all Division III programs with a 2.73 ERA while also finishing in the top 100 in 17 other statistical categories including stolen bases (9th, 106), base on balls (10th, 210), shutouts (10th, 6), WHIP (13th, 1.26) and hits allowed per nine innings (14th, 8.21).
Emory rolled through the NCAA South Regional tournament hosted by Berry College to clinch its third straight trip to Appleton. The Eagles were a perfect 4-0 during the regional tournament with wins over Thomas More College (6-5), Marietta College (8-0) and 9th-ranked Shenandoah University twice (14-7 and 15-2). Sophomore Bubby Terp put on a performance for the ages to earn Most Valuable Player honors, hitting a robust .556 (10-for-18) with one double, one home run and 13 RBI in Emory's four victories while driving in at least two runs in each contest including a career-high four in two of the four games. Juniors Brian Hernandez, Hans Hansen and Chris Young joined Terp on the All-Tournament Team. During the second game of the regional against Marietta, Hansen twirled an absolute gem, going the distance while allowing just seven hits and striking out five. It was the first ever complete game shutout thrown by an Eagle in the history of the NCAA tournament.
In the first game of the World Series, the Eagles ran into top-ranked and the defending national champions, the State University of New York – Cortland, falling to the Red Dragons by the score of 1-0. Junior Jackson Weeg pitched perhaps his best game of the season, tossing the first complete game of his career, allowing just one run on six hits and one walk but the Emory offense could not muster a run against Cortland's Seth Lamando, the D3Baseball.com Pitcher of the Year.
The very next day at Fox Cities Stadium, Emory faced off against 4th-ranked Wisconsin-La Crosse in an elimination game. The Eagles took a 3-2 lead on the strength of a two-run home run by sophomore Nick Chambers but UWL responded with 10 unanswered runs to bounce Emory from the World Series.
Junior Kyle Monk was the lone Eagle to be named to the D3baseball.com All-America team, earning Honorable Mention status after an outstanding junior season. Monk led the team with a 1.36 ERA in 46.1 innings while tallying a 4-3 won-loss ledger with 11 saves and 42 strikeouts. The Cortlandt Manor, NY native added D3Baseball.com All-South First Team and ABCA/Rawlings All-South Second Team accolades and became the first ever Emory athlete (male or female) to be the recipient of the prestigious NCAA Elite 90 Award. Monk was also selected to the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Academic All-America First Team for his performance in the classroom as well as on the baseball diamond. He is just the third Emory baseball player ever to be named a CoSIDA Academic All-American and the first to be selected to the First Team since Justin Gordon in 2006.
In addition to Monk, five other Eagles garnered All-Region acclaim for their performances during the season. Freshman Billy Dimlow was named the D3baseball.com South Regional Rookie of the Year on the heels of a 6-2 campaign with 42 strikeouts and a 3.47 ERA in 57 innings pitched. Weeg was named to the D3Baseball.com All-South Region Second Team and ABCA/Rawlings All-South Region Third team after posting a 7-1 record with a 2.28 ERA and a team-high 78 strikeouts in 94.2 innings. Hansen made both organizations' Third Team as did Hernandez. Hansen recorded a team-leading nine victories, going 9-2 while racking up 46 punch outs and a 2.09 ERA in 81.2 innings while Hernandez was a leader on offense, ranking first on the team in several statistical categories: average (.376), hits (65), doubles (10), home runs (4), RBI (50), slugging percentage (.514) and topped the Eagles with 19 multi-hit games and 16 multi-RBI games. Senior Dylan Eisner rounded out the Emory players collecting All-Region awards as the fourth-year second baseman was placed on the ABCA/Rawlings All-South Region Second Team after a career year where he registered career-bests in average (.368), doubles (8), RBI (28), walks (28) and stolen bases (15).
Earlier in the season, the Eagles finished tied for second at the University Athletic Association Championships in Sanford, FL, finishing with a 5-3 record, just one game behind Washington University (6-2). Weeg was the lone UAA All-Tournament selection as he worked into the ninth inning in both contests against WashU, allowing just two runs in 16.2 innings with nine Ks.
Weeg along with Hansen, Hernandez, Monk and Dimlow added All-UAA honors as the four upperclassmen were selected to the All-UAA First Team with Dimlow earning a nod on the Second Team.
Throughout the course of the season Emory had three different winning streaks of at least five games during the year with a season-long win streak of eight games occurring from February 19th through March 6th as the Eagles reeled off their best start since 2008, opening the year with an 11-2 record.
Head Coach Mike Twardoski earned an impressive milestone as well during the season as he became just the fourth Emory head coach and just the 39th active Division III head coach to reach the 500 win plateau as the Eagles defeated the University of Chicago 15-4 on March 26th. Twardoski added UAA, D3Baseball.com and ABCA/Diamond All-South Regional Coach of the Year honors as he guided the Eagles to their sixth World Series appearance, the third straight 30-win season and the ninth overall under his tutelage.
The 2016 season marked the end of careers for the senior class of David Coble, Eisner, Jack Karras, Paul Merolla, Chris Slivka and Ben Vizvary. The group closed out an impressive four-year stretch that included a 125-57 record (.687 win percentage), three straight College World Series appearances including a second-place finish in 2014 and two University Athletic Association titles.
The Eagles earned the following honors during the 2016 season:
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D3Baseball.com All-America |
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Kyle Monk |
Cortlandt Manor, NY (Hendrick Hudson) |
Relief Pitcher |
Honorable Mention |
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ABCA/Rawlings All-South Region |
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Dylan Eisner |
Laguna Nigel, CA (Dana Hills) |
Second Base |
Second Team |
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Kyle Monk |
Cortlandt Manor, NY (Hendrick Hudson) |
Relief Pitcher |
Second Team |
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Jackson Weeg |
Woodstock, GA (River Ridge) |
Starting Pitcher |
Third Team |
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Brian Hernandez |
Miami, FL (G. Holmes Braddock) |
Designated Hitter |
Third Team |
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Hans Hansen |
Playa del Rey, CA (Harvard-Westlake) |
Starting Pitcher |
Third Team |
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D3Baseball.com All-South Region |
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Kyle Monk |
Cortlandt Manor, NY (Hendrick Hudson) |
Relief Pitcher |
First Team |
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Jackson Weeg |
Woodstock, GA (River Ridge) |
Starting Pitcher |
Second Team |
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Brian Hernandez |
Miami, FL (G. Holmes Braddock) |
Designated Hitter |
Third Team |
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Hans Hansen |
Playa del Rey, CA (Harvard-Westlake) |
Starting Pitcher |
Third Team |
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D3Baseball.com All-South Region Rookie of the Year |
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Billy Dimlow |
Sammamish, WA (Eastside Catholic) |
Pitcher |
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D3Baseball.com All-South Region Coach of the Year |
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Mike Twardoski |
17th Season |
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| ABCA/Diamond Regional Coach of the Year | |||||||||||||||
| Mike Twardoski | 17th Season | ||||||||||||||
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D3Baseball.com All-Tournament Team (World Series) |
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Jackson Weeg |
Woodstock, GA (River Ridge) |
Starting Pitcher |
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NCAA South Regional Tournament Most Valuable Player |
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Bubby Terp |
Temple Terrace, FL (King) |
First Base |
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NCAA South Regional All-Tournament Team |
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Chris Young |
Fullerton, CA (Servite) |
Catcher |
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Bubby Terp |
Temple Terrace, FL (King) |
First Base |
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Brian Hernandez |
Miami, FL (G. Holmes Braddock) |
Designated Hitter |
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Hans Hansen |
Playa del Rey, CA (Harvard-Westlake) |
Starting Pitcher |
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All-UAA Tournament |
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Jackson Weeg |
Woodstock, GA (River Ridge) |
Pitcher |
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All-University Athletic Association |
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Kyle Monk |
Cortlandt Manor, NY (Hendrick Hudson) |
Pitcher |
First Team |
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Jackson Weeg |
Woodstock, GA (River Ridge) |
Pitcher |
First Team |
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Brian Hernandez |
Miami, FL (G. Holmes Braddock) |
Designated Hitter |
First Team |
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Hans Hansen |
Playa del Rey, CA (Harvard-Westlake) |
Starting Pitcher |
First Team |
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Billy Dimlow |
Sammamish, WA (Eastside Catholic) |
Pitcher |
Second Team |
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UAA Coaching Staff of the Year |
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Mike Twardoski, Bobby Perez, Sean Kelly |
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D3Baseball.com Preseason All-America |
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Jackson Weeg |
Woodstock, GA (River Ridge) |
Pitcher |
First Team |
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HERO Sports Preseason All-America |
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Jackson Weeg |
Woodstock, GA (River Ridge) |
Pitcher |
First Team |
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NCAA Elite 90 Award |
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Kyle Monk |
Cortlandt Manor, NY (Hendrick Hudson) |
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CoSIDA Academic All-America |
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Kyle Monk |
Cortlandt Manor, NY (Hendrick Hudson) |
First Team |
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CoSIDA Academic All-District |
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Kyle Monk |
Cortlandt Manor, NY (Hendrick Hudson) |
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Chris Slivka |
Munster, IN (Munster) |
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D3Baseball.com Team of the Week |
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Brian Hernandez |
Miami, FL (G. Holmes Braddock) |
Designated Hitter |
Feb. 15th (Week 1) |
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UAA Athlete of the Week |
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Brian Hernandez |
Miami, FL (G. Holmes Braddock) |
Feb. 15th, Mar. 28th |
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Kyle Monk |
Cortlandt Manor, NY (Hendrick Hudson) |
Feb. 15th |
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Hans Hansen |
Playa del Rey, CA (Harvard-Westlake) |
Feb. 22nd, Feb. 29th, April 4th, May 23rd |
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Bubby Terp |
Temple Terrace, FL (King) |
May 23rd |
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The following were the team leaders during the 2016 season:
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Batting Average (Min. 3 PA/game) |
Brian Hernandez |
.376 |
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Runs Scored |
40 |
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Hits |
Brian Hernandez |
65 |
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Doubles |
Brian Hernandez |
10 |
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Triples |
Wilson Morgan |
2 |
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Home Runs |
Brian Hernandez |
4 |
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RBIs |
Brian Hernandez |
50 |
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Walks |
Wilson Morgan |
35 |
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Stolen Bases |
David Coble |
25 |
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Wins |
Hans Hansen |
9 |
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Saves |
Kyle Monk |
11 * |
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ERA (Min. 1.0 IP/ game) |
Kyle Monk |
1.36 |
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Strikeouts |
Jackson Weeg |
78 |
* - Indicates Emory Record