AMHERST, Massachusetts -- Two members of the Amherst College Baseball team gained recognition on the 1997 ECAC New England Division III Baseball All-Star Team, as selected by ECAC baseball coaches and sports information directors. Senior Dan Jin (Berkeley, CA) earned First Team honors as an outfielder while sophomore Greg Berchelmann (St. Louis, MO) was the designated hitter for the Second Team.
Jin finished his career with a team-leading .465 batting average, ranked 24th in the nation after peaking at .714 early in the season. The centerfielder stole 22 of 23 bases for a team-high in 1997, while also banging out 13 doubles and five home runs for a .711 slugging percentage. Solid both offensively and defensively, the right-hander also earned spots on the NCAA New England Regional All-Tournament Team and the NEIBA All-New England Second Team.
Berchelmann was the Jeffs' RBI leader, posting 47 in his sophomore season, including three games of five or more runs batted in. He ranked 10th in the country in RBIs per game as he nearly broke the record for most RBIs in single season. The DH hit safely in 26 of 31 games played this season and finshed with a .362 batting average and .606 slugging percentage. He finished with nine doubles, two triples and six home runs. Berchelmann also gained NEIBA All New England Third Team recognition as well as GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-Distrrict honors.
Amherst Baseball made its second straight trip to the NCAA Regional Tournament in as many years. Finishing the regular season with a 25-4 record, the Jeffs earned a No. 4 seed in the New England Region where they knocked off top-seeded Brandeis in the opening game. However, Amherst fell to eventual national champion Southern Maine and to Eastern Connecticut to wrap up the 1997 season with a 26-6 record.
1997 ECAC New England Division III Baseball All-Star First Team P Jeff Taglienti Sr. Tufts Walpole, MA P Matt Harbour Sr. Southern Maine Wareham, MA C Frank Pericolosi Sr. Williams Exeter, RI 1B Glenn Lungarini Jr. Eastern Connecticut Oxford, CT 2B Mike McMahon Sr. Bridgewater State Norwood, MA 3B Tony Miner Sr. Southern Maine East Winthrop, ME SS Ryan Fitzgerald Sr. Brandeis South Hadley, MA OF Matt McDonald Jr. Bowdoin Warwick, RI OF Colin Lydon Jr. Framingham State Pembroke, MA OF Jon Cignetti Jr. Babson Reading, MA OF Dan Jin Sr. Amherst Berkeley, CA DH Adam Zoldak Fr. Brandeis Gardner, MA
Second Team: P Bill Mello, Sr, Brandeis(Burlington, MA); P Karl Bussey, Sr, Curry (Revere, MA); C Christian Burchefield, Jr, Trinity (Milton, MA); 1B Jason Crepeau, Jr, Southern Maine (Biddeford, ME); 2B Pat Shea, Sr, Brandeis (Quincy, MA); 3B Mike Goeller, Jr. Framingham St. (N. Attleboro, MA); SS Matt Poitras, Sr, Bridgewater St. (Achushnet, MA); OF Pat Schultz, Jr, UMass Dartmouth (Wareham, MA); OF Ed Nadeau, So, Bridgewater St. (E. Taunton, MA); OF Jon Gersz, Jr, ECSU (Wallingford, CT); DH Greg Berchelmann, So, Amherst (St. Louis, MO).
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