Worcester, MA --- Junior right hander Joe Perlak (Chicopee, MA) has been selected to the Capital One Division III District I Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America (Co-SIDA). Perlak will move on to the national ballot for All-American consideration.
Perlak has been a key piece for Worcester State on the pitching staff en route to helping the squad share the MASCAC Regular Season title and for helping the team capture the 2014 MASCAC Baseball Tournament crown this past Monday.
On the campaign, Perlak has gone 5-0 with 32 strikeouts and seven walks in 39.0 innings with a 4.15 ERA in a club-high 14 appearances. In relief, he has come out of the bullpen nine times and yielded one earned run and one walk in 12.1 frames to go with 10 strikeouts, a 2-0 record and one save.
His standout performances have included fanning six over six innings in a 7-5 victory over crosstown rival WPI and a career-best nine punch outs over six 2/3 frames of work against Framingham State.
In the conference tournament, he tossed the final two frames in non-save situations to finish two contests in the playoffs which included two hitless innings in a quarterfinal triumph over Westfield State and he retired six batters in order against Salem State to help lift the Blue and Gold to the title game.
Perlak carries a 3.61 grade point average with a major in business administration. He is three-time MASCAC All-Academic honoree and on the dean's list for occasion. Perlak is also a recent inductee into Chi Alpha Sigma, for Student-Athletes with high honors and Sigma Beta Delta, the honor society for International Business.
The All-District recognition marks the first time since former WSU Hall of Famer Eric Swedberg was distinguished in 2002, when he was slotted as a district winner before becoming a Second-team Academic All-American.
There were seven pitchers chosen on the 18 member first-team which represented institutions from Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont including junior Mike Molta (Narragansett, MA) of Westfield State.
To be eligible for all-academic honors, a student-athlete must be a starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.30 on a 4.00 scale, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
This year marks the third that the College Division (Non-Division I) has expanded to include Divisions I, II, II and NAIA and Canadian schools and two-year institutions. The regions were spread out to included eight distinct geographic locations across the United States.
2014 Co-SIDA Academic All-District Baseball Team
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