Bayliss Earns First Team All-ECAC
Honors for Trinity Baseball

 Trinity College

Freimuth and Piantek Named ECAC Honorable Mention

Hartford, Conn., July 10 - Trinity College junior right-hander Jonah Bayliss (Williamstown, Mass.) was named to the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III New England All-Star First Team. Trinity senior co-captain SS Andrew Freimuth (Bristol, Conn.) and junior 2B Kurt Piantek (Wallingford, Conn.) were each named to the ECAC Division III All-Star Honorable Mention squad.

 

Jonah Bayliss

The Trinity baseball squad, coached by Bill Decker (12th season, 241-130) finished with a best-ever 26-10 overall record and an 8-4 mark in the New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) East Division. The Bantams qualified for the NESCAC Championship Tournament and led Tufts in the final game, 4-2, in the fifth inning before it was called due to rain.

Bayliss was the 2002 NESCAC Pitcher of the Year, an All-NESCAC and a New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association (NEIBA) All-New England First Team selection, and an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-American Third Team selection. He was taken in the seventh round of the Major League Baseball draft this June by the Kansas City Royals. Bayliss appeared in 10 games (nine starts) on the mound with a team-best 8-1 record. He led Trinity in complete games (5), shutouts (tied for team-lead with 2), innings pitched (66.2), and strikeouts (84) with a 2.43 ERA. Bayliss tossed a no-hitter against Bates with 14 strikeouts and earned the win in relief against Tufts in the NESCAC Championship Tournament on one day's rest this spring.

Piantek, also a first team All-NESCAC and All-NEIBA player, started all 36 games at second and first base for Trinity, and batted .371 (52-for-135). He posted team-highs in hits, runs (38), home runs (12 was a new Trinity season record), RBI (52 was a new Trinity season record), and total bases (99 was a new Trinity season record), along with 11 doubles. Fries played in 26 games (21 starts), mostly at catcher, for Trinity, and batted .434 (36-for-83) with 19 runs, six doubles, five home runs, and 26 RBI.

Freimuth played in 35 games (34 starts) at shortstop for Trinity, and batted .311 (42-for-135) with a team-high seven stolen bases, 32 runs, 10 doubles, four homers, and 29 RBI. A four-time All-NESCAC selection, All-NEIBA in 2000, 2001, and 2002, and an All-ECAC player last spring, Freimuth hit a game-winning, three-run homer to give Trinity an extra-inning win over Wesleyan in the NESCAC Championship Tournament this spring.

Freimuth finished his career with 197 hits (new Trinity career record) in 533 at-bats (new Trinity career record) for a .370 batting average (10th-best all-time). He notched 139 runs (new Trinity career record), 51 doubles (new Trinity career record), seven triples (tied Trinity career record), 17 home runs, 143 RBI (new Trinity career record), 313 total bases (new Trinity career record), 22 stolen bases, 342 assists (new Trinity career record), and 55 double plays (new Trinity record) in four years.