NEWARK, Del. – Junior Nick Schwartz (Massapequa, N.Y.) was selected as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) East Region Player of the Year and Scott Loiseau was named the NCBWA East Region Coach of the Year, as the Southern New Hampshire University baseball team saw five earn all-region honors Thursday.

Schwartz, who also landed a spot on the NCBWA East All-Region First Team, adds to his list of accolades that includes NE10 Northeast Division Player of the Year and NE10 All-Conference First Team honors. Schwartz is in the midst of an all-time season, batting .412 (70-170) with 12 home runs, 63 RBI and 58 runs scored. He has piled up 33 extra-base hits, including 19 doubles, and has drawn 28 walks, to craft a slash line of .498/.759/1.257. Behind the plate, he has played errorless baseball over 287 chances, by far the highest number of chances with a perfect fielding percentage in the league. The next closest has made 106 flawless plays. Schwartz leads the NE10 in batting, RBI, slugging percentage, total bases (129) and doubles (19), while ranking second in hits, runs scored and on-base percentage, third in home runs, and 11th in walks. In the single-season program record book, Schwartz ranks ranks first in batting, second in doubles, third in RBI, sixth in home runs and 10th in hits.
 
Loiseau, who earned his sixth NE10 Coach of the Year honor earlier this month, including his third straight, is the NCBWA East Region Coach of the Year for the fourth time (2014, 2016, 2017). Loiseau guided the Penmen to a 37-10 mark in the regular season, including a stellar 23-1 record in NE10 play, and now owns the top seed in the East Region for the NCAA Championship, which begins Thursday. SNHU won a program-record 24 straight games from March 24-April 28, with the winning streak serving as the longest in the nation at any level, while it was active. The Penmen won the NE10 Northeast Division for the sixth straight season and seventh time, overall, with the .958 winning percentage in league play ranking as the second best in the history of the conference. SNHU led the league in runs, batting average, home runs, walks, stolen bases, ERA, strikeouts and fielding percentage.

Senior Jeffrey Praml (Bridgewater, N.J.) joined Schwartz as one of four Penmen to make the NCBWA East All-Region First Team. Praml, the NE10 Northeast Division Pitcher of the Year and an NE10 All-Conference First Teamer, returned to the Penmen this season and picked right back up with his dominant form. Over 12 starts, he is 9-3 with a 2.67 ERA, striking out 66 over 81 innings. Opponents are batting .240 against him. Praml is leading the conference in wins and innings pitched, while placing fourth in ERA and sixth in strikeouts. His nine wins are tied for the third most in a single season in program history. Praml was previously an NCBWA East All-Region First Team choice back in 2019.

Junior Danniel Rivera (New Britain, Conn.), who was also a First Team pick, adds to his 2023 resume that includes NE10 All-Conference First Team and NE10 All-Defensive Team (at-large) honors. Rivera is hitting .380 (65-171) with eight home runs, 35 RBI and 57 runs scored. He has walked 35 times to bolster a .486 OBP and also has 23 extra-base hits, including 14 doubles, for a .614 slugging mark and 1.110 OPS. Rivera is 46-for-54 stealing bases and has made 188 of 200 plays at shortstop. Rivera has hit safely in 38 of the 45 games he has played in this season, including 23 straight from March 26-May 9. He leads the league in steals, while placing third in runs, fifth in hits, on-base percentage, walks and total bases (105), sixth in batting, ninth in doubles, 11th in slugging, 14th in home runs and 27th in RBI. He currently sits second in steals, fifth in walks, sixth in batting and eighth in runs scored in the SNHU single-season record book.

Junior Cam Caraher (Plymouth, Mass.) rounded out the First Team selections for the Penmen. An NE10 All-Conference First Teamer, Caraher is batting .360 (58-161) with a team-high 13 home runs, 45 RBI and 56 runs scored, while drawing 32 walks for a slash line of .482/.652/1.134. He has been successful on 30 of 32 stolen-base attempts. Caraher is first in the NE10 in home runs, third in steals, fourth in runs scored and slugging percentage, fifth in total bases (105), seventh in walks and on-base percentage, eighth in RBI, 13th in hits and 15th in batting. In SNHU's single-season record book, he is currently third in home runs, seventh in steals and ninth in runs. Caraher was a Second Team selection a year ago.

The Penmen, ranked 10th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Division II Top 25 and 22nd fg in the Collegiate Baseball Division II Poll, open NCAA East Region I play Thursday (3 p.m.) when they take on the loser of fourth-seeded Franklin Pierce University and fifth-seeded Pace University at Penmen Field. SNHU is the top seed and host of the three-team pd.

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