COMPLETE AMERICA EAST ALL-CONFERENCE SELECTIONS

BOSTON -- Ehi Okojie became the first Retriever to ever be named the America East's Len Harlow Player of the Year as the UMBC Baseball team took home a league-high 16 All-Conference honors, the Conference announced on Tuesday afternoon. 

Head coach Liam Bowen was named the Co-Coach of the Year after leading a UMBC team (28-22, 15-9 AE) picked near unanimously to finish in last place in the preseason poll to a second place finish and a bye in the America East Tournament.

The Retrievers led the league with the most players on each of the individual All-Conference teams. The Dawgs had a four players named to the First Team, five to the Second Team, two to the All-Rookie Team and three on the All-Academic Team. 

Okojie had one of the most prolific seasons at the plate in UMBC history, as he batted .313 with 12 homers, 58 RBI, 17 doubles and 60 total hits in 49 games played. He also stole five bases and drew 22 walks. In Conference play, he led the league with eight homers, 32 RBI and was second in slugging (.629) and was fifth in OPS (1.029). 

Joining Okojie on the First Team were starting pitcher Eddie Sargent, designated hitter Danny Wyatt and utility Sergio Droz. Sargent earns his first career All-Conference honor in his senior campaign as he pitched to a a 5-0 record with a 3.09 ERA in eight America East starts. Wyatt batted .312 with three homers and 22 RBI in AE play, while Droz saw action in the field, at the plate and on the mound, becoming the Sunday starter for the Retrievers by the final few weeks of the season.

Reliever Brady Fox, catcher Derek Paris, first baseman Dylan Melton, shortstop Kyle Eddington and outfielder Danny Orr were all named to the Second Team. Fox was spectacular out of the bullpen in America East play for the Dawgs, finishing with a 2-3 record and five saves with a 2.88 ERA in 12 appearances. The sophomore lefty also struck out 32 batters in 25.0 innings of work in Conference play.

Paris was solid behind the plate for UMBC, throwing out six baserunners, while batting .325 with a homer and 30 RBI. Melton, a freshman, was sensational in his debut campaign. In America East play, the lefty batted leadoff and hit to a .344 average with a homer, 17 RBI and 15 walks to only five strikeouts. Eddington had a breakout campaign, batting .295 with 26 RBI, 14 sacrifice hits and was 11-for-11 on stolen base attempts. Orr led the America East in Conference play with a .396 batting average, while reaching base safely in the final 20 straight games and 23 of 24 AE games overall. He had a hit in 21 of 24 24 conference games, including 13 multi-hit games. In AE play, Orr also led the Conference in hits (38) and was fourth in OPS (1.041).

Melton, who was a perfect 392-for-392 in the field, was also named to the All-Rookie team and was joined on it by reliever Kailen Hackmann who went 5-0 with a save in 12 appearances out of the bullpen in America East play.

Eddington, Paris and Brady LeJeune-DeAcutis all earned spots on the All-Academic Team. Paris has a 3.79 GPA in Computer Science, Eddington has a 3.66 GPA in Financial Economics and LeJeune-DeAcutis has a 4.00 in his Entrepreneurship graduate program after earning a 4.o in undergrad as a Business Administration major. 

The second-seeded Retrievers earned a bye to the double elimination portion of the bracket and will play the highest remaining seed on Thursday at 3 p.m. in Binghamton.