Complete Award Winners

Tournament Game Notes

Fairleigh Dickinson baseball players Ryan Kresky (Freehold, NJ/Freehold), Matt Holsman (Coral Springs, FL/Stoneman Douglas) and Eric Snyder (Slatington, Pa./Northern Lehigh) collected All-NEC accolades Wednesday evening, announced by the league at a ceremony in the Dodd Stadium Picnic Area in Norwich, CT.
 
Kresky collected the highest individual honor of the night as he was named NEC Player of the Year to go along with being named First Team All-NEC at shortstop.  Holsman joined Kresky on the First Team as a utility player, while Snyder was named to the Second Team as a relief pitcher.
 
Not since 1994 has a Knight achieved what Kresky has done by claiming the highest individual honor in NEC baseball.  The veteran shortstop was more than just a senior leader on a young FDU team that featured 16 freshmen.  The left-handed hitting Kresky combined tremendous offensive production with a good glove to spearhead the Knights' return to the postseason.  Helping FDU end a NEC Tournament drought that dates back to 1999, Kresky ranked atop the NEC individual leader board in batting average (.377), on-base percentage (.495) and slugging percentage (.577).  His .960 fielding percentage places the 6-foot-1 Kresky second amongst the conference's shortstops.  Batting third in a rookie-laden lineup, the Garden State product posted a league-high 1.072 OPS (on-base plus slugging), while ranking amongst the NEC's top-5 leaders in runs scored (39) and RBI (38) during the regular season.  Kresky, who was an All-NEC Second Team selection as a junior, enters FDU's NEC Tournament opener against Monmouth with 219 career hits to his credit.  With 66 hits, 24 of which went for extra bases, in 51 games, the fourth-year Knight became the third player in program history to join the 200-hit Club.  Kresky's multitude of skills also includes a prowess on the basepaths as the NEC Player of the Year was successful in six of his seven stolen base attempts.
 
Holsman has been a key cog in the Knights' lineup and is one of the reasons why Gary Puccio's team was able to end its playoff drought.  Holsman, who made 44 starts, batted .284 with 31 runs scored.  The native Floridian connected on two home runs, one of which came in dramatic fashion during the season's stretch run.  After FDU dropped the first two games, and fell behind early in the third of its series with Mount St. Mary's on the next-to-last weekend of conference play, Holsman delivered a game-winning grand slam that capped the Knights' comeback and put them back on track for the NEC Tournament.  The FDU DH/3B also joined the 200-hit club earlier in the season and has 213 over his four-year career.
 
Snyder had a dynamite year out of the bullpen for the Knights.  During his 12 saves, he did not yield a single run.  Snyder went 12-for-14 in save situations, posting a 1.62 ERA, while going 2-0.  He saved half of FDU's 18 NEC victories this season.
 
The Knights will open NEC Tournament play on Thursday at Dodd Stadium against top-seeded Monmouth.  First-pitch is slated for Noon and can be viewed on northeastconference.tv.  You can also follow the game on live stats and on Twitter.