LOWELL, Mass. – Four members from the UMass Lowell baseball team were named to America East All-Conference Teams at the league's banquet on Wednesday evening.
 
Senior shortstop Danny Mendick (Rochester, N.Y.) was selected to the First Team All-Conference, while senior third baseman Matthew Sanchez (Sunrise, Fla.), sophomore outfielder Ian Strom (Hopedale, Mass.) and freshman pitcher Andrew Ryan (Rochester, Mass.) were named to the Second Team. Ryan was also named to the All-Rookie Team.
 
"The All-Conference winners are all deserving," said Head Coach Ken Harring. "What they contributed on and off the field helped the team achieve our second consecutive finish in the top four."
 
UMBC claimed three of the conference's major awards, as Matt Chanin and Conrad Wozniak were named Rookie and Pitcher of the Year, respectively. The Retrievers' Bob Mumma was also a unanimous pick for Coach of the Year. Stony Brook junior outfielder Jack Parenty got the top honor as the America East Player of the Year.
 
One of two River Hawk team captains, Mendick trended up from a Second Team selection as a junior, hitting .327 and leading his team with 30 runs batted in. He tied for first in the AE with 16 doubles, adding a triple and home run en route to posting a team-best .455 slugging percentage. The sure-handed shortstop also posted a .975 fielding percentage, committing just five errors in 130 attempts.
 
Mendick, one of 47 finalists nationally for the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award, performed among the conference's best in several categories. He finished seventh in stolen bases (14), eighth in RBI, ninth in slugging percentage, 14^th in on base percentage (.408), 15^th in hits (50) and 16^th in total bases (71). 
 
Strom posted a team-high .333 average at the plate and finished second on the team in RBI and stolen bases. He knocked in 21 RBI in 34 games and finished with 17 steals, one shy of the team leader Sanchez. Strom, who doubled as the teams closer, also recorded three saves in six appearances, striking out four batters in just 5.2 innings of work.
 
Sanchez, the teams leadoff hitter, ranked seventh in the league with a .327 batting average and got himself on base at a .428 clip. The senior wreaked havoc for opposing pitchers when on the base paths, finishing third in the AE in steals (18) and fifth in triples (three), while scoring a team-high 27 runs. He also added 17 RBI and 10 doubles with 22 walks, the most of any River Hawk.
 
Ryan showed steady improvements in his rookie campaign, starting in a relief role before taking over as the club's ace and capping off the season with two wins in his final three starts. He picked up his first collegiate win in a 3-0, complete-game shutout at Hartford, which earned him the AE Rookie of the Week Award on April 27^th. He followed that performance by striking out a season-high seven hitters in the River Hawks 11-4 battering of Albany. The freshman finished the year with team bests in earned run average (2.67) and strikeouts (29), while holding opponents to a .230 batting average.
 
Picked to finish seventh in the America East standings in the preseason, the River Hawks exceeded expectations, coming in third with a 10-10 mark in league play and an overall record of 17-26.