Austin, Texas - Reigning East Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year, Jake DeCarli of LIU Post, has been named a Preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
DeCarli, who is listed as a Second Team All-American, had one of the best seasons in ECC history a season ago to be named the conference's top pitcher. In 10 games, all starts, DeCarli posted a 6-1 record with a miniscule 0.76 earned run average. He allowed only 35 hits and struck out 60 batters in 71.0 innings of work. His ERA and hits allowed per nine innings (4.44) totals were both good for third in all of Division II.
DeCarli also joined five others from the ECC in earning a spot on the NCBWA All-East Region Preseason Teams. DeCarli was a First Team selection along with Giovanni Dingcong (OF) and Joseph Pena (2B) of St. Thomas Aquinas. Second Team honorees include Rob Anderson (SP) of Bridgeport, RJ Goings (UTL) of Dowling, and David Groeneveld (1B) of LIU Post.
In addition, three ECC squads were listed among the NCBWA's East Region Top 10. Three-time defending ECC Champion, St. Thomas Aquinas is the top ranked school from the ECC coming in at No. 4. The Spartans were also NCAA East Region runner-up in 2015, coming within one game of their second straight trip to the Division II World Series.
Dowling was next in the poll, coming in at No. 6 after a 27-17 record in 2015. Bridgeport rounds out the ECC schools in the poll, after being runner-up in the ECC Championship for the fourth time in five seasons.
LIU Post earned votes in the poll, as well, narrowly missing the top 10 by three points.
To view the full NCBWA Preseason Top 25 poll, East Region poll, All-America Team and All-Region Team, click here.
