Trojans Garner Several Post-Season Accolades

Trojans Garner Several Post-Season Accolades

Mount Olive, N.C. - Several student-athletes from the University of Mount Olive baseball team garnered post-season honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the American Baseball Coaches Association. Relief pitcher Zach Vennaro picked up two All-American honors, one from each organization. 

Vennaro was named to the NCBWA first-team and the ABCA/Rawlings second-team honor. The senior pitcher from Utica, N.Y., was the shutdown man for the Trojans as he ended the season with 11 saves and a 0.81 ERA. He recorded 52 strikeouts in his 44.2 innings used by Mount Olive and finished with a 6-1 record as the UMO closer. Vennaro was also a Conference Carolinas First-Team All-Conference selection and All-Tournament team member. In addition to All-America honors, Vennaro earned a pair of first-team Southeast All-Region laurels.

Nate Estes earned was named to the ABCA/Rawlings first-team all-region team while also picking up second-team honors from the NCBWA. Estes, a junior outfielder from Greenburgh, N.Y., led the Trojans in batting average (.372), stolen bases (28), runs scored (53), hits (73), triples (4), RBI (58), and at-bats (196). Estes was a Conference Carolinas First-Team All-Conference and Conference Carolinas All-Tournament Team selection. The junior outfielder also held spots in the national statistical rankings as he ranked 31st RBI, 21st Stolen bases, 35th sacrifice flies (6).

Garnering second team all-region recognition was the duo of German Reyes and Justin Carroll.

Reyes tallied two second-team honors, one from each organization. The senior pitcher from Miami, Fla., had a solid year on the mound for Mount Olive as he went 7-1 with a 2.61 ERA and a team second-best 71 strikeouts. Reyes was named to the Conference Carolinas First-Team All-Conference as well as the Conference Carolinas All-Tournament Team. He was 13th in DII in hits allowed per nine innings at 5.95 and had the best ERA of any starter in the rotation for UMO this season.

Carroll, a senior from McGee's Crossroads, N.C., was a First-Team All-Conference Carolinas team member for the 36-14-1 UMO Baseball team this season. He was also a nationally statistical threat as he ranked 6th nationally with 17 HRs (1st on team; 2nd in conf.), 8th in total bases (127), 17th in Home Runs Per Game (0.37), 34th in runs with 49 (T1 on team; T5 in conf.), and 35th (2nd on team; 3rd in conf.) in stolen bases (21). He picks up one postseason honor, earning a Second-Team All-Region award from ABCA/Rawlings.

2018 NCBWA Division II All-America Team
First-Team
RP - Zach Vennaro, Mount Olive

2018 NCBWA Division II All-Southeast Region Team
First-Team
RP - Zach Vennaro

Second-Team
SP - German Reyes
UT - Nate Estes

2018 ABCA/Rawlings Division II All-America Team
Second-Team
RP - Zach Vennaro

2018 ABCA/Rawlings Division II All-Region Team
First-Team
UT - Nate Estes
RP - Zach Vennaro

Second-Team
OF - Justin Carroll
P - German Reyes