Posted: May 21, 2018

Five Mariners Earn D3baseball.com All-New England Honors

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Five members of the Mitchell College baseball team were among the 42 players who received D3baseball.com All-New England honors on Monday.

Seniors Kyle Hartenstein and Garet Griffin represented the Mariners on the first team, which was made up of 14 selections from 11 different institutions. Senior Eddie Santiago, junior Eric Marriott and sophomore Jakari Pellegrini all landed spots on the third team.

Mitchell and UMass-Boston tied for the most selections in the region, with the Mariners clinching their highest total in school history. Hartenstein and Griffin are the first Mitchell teammates to earn D3baseball.com all-region first team status in the same season. The Mariners now boast 12 all-region selections in the past six years under head coach Travis Beausoleil.

The group led the Mariners to a 31-10 record this season that included a 15-3 mark in New England Collegiate Conference play. Mitchell won its sixth NECC title and competed in the NCAA DIII regionals for the fifth time, picking up its third postseason win since 2014.

Hartenstein was selected as the top second baseman in New England for the second year in a row. The three-time all-conference pick and 2018 NECC Player of the Year batted .390 with 33 RBI and 52 runs scored over 39 games. During the season he became Mitchell's all-time career leader in hits (233), runs (167), RBI (128), total bases (314), games played (158) and starts (158).

Griffin, an All-New England second team shortstop last season, batted a team-high .392 over 41 games and led the Mariners in RBI (52), hits (65), triples (7), homers (6), stolen bases (21) and total bases (102). In three seasons at Mitchell he hit .383 and ranks among the school's all-time leaders in runs (116), hits (165), triples (10), homers (13), RBI (117) and steals (33).

Santiago, a lefty starter and all-NECC first team selection, earned All-New England honors for the first time in his career. In his final season with the Mariners he went 6-2 with a 2.78 ERA in 11 starts. He recorded 65 strikeouts over 64.2 innings—both career highs—and led the Mitchell staff in both categories.

Marriott made a big impact in his first season with the Mariners, earning all-conference first-team honors while batting leadoff and playing a stellar center field. In 41 games he hit .377 with 33 RBI and 49 runs scored and stole 13 bases. During Mitchell's NCAA run he hit safely in all three games and finished with a team-high five hits.

Pellegrini broke through in his second season with the Mariners, going 5-0 in 10 starts while earning all-NECC first team status. The lefty recorded the lowest ERA (2.65) of any Mitchell starter and struck out a career-high 57 batters over 54.1 innings.

The 2018 season marks the seventh year that D3baseball.com has named all-region teams, with over 800 players nominated. The ballot was then made available to sports information directors—who voted for a predetermined number of players in their region—as well as D3baseball.com staff and contributors.