Pirates Tally Five All-BIG EAST Selections; Coaches Tabbed Staff of the Year
5/23/2023 9:32:00 AM | Baseball
Mason, Ohio — Postseason awards for BIG EAST baseball were announced Tuesday ahead of this week's BIG EAST Championship and Seton Hall has four selections on the All-BIG EAST First Team, one All-BIG EAST Second Team selection and the award for BIG EAST Coaching staff of the Year.
The Pirates' first team picks are graduate student right-handed pitcher Nick Payero (Monroe, N.J.), junior shortstop Max Viera (Greenwood Lake, N.Y.), graduate student designated hitter Staus Pokrovsky (Pittsgrove, N.J.) and redshirt junior center fielder Devin Hack (Somerville, N.J.). The Hall is represented on the second team by redshirt junior second baseman. Jonathan Luders (Lynnfield, Mass.).
Seton Hall has the second-most first team selections in the conference, behind only regular season champion Connecticut. Its the most first team selections for The Hall since 2014 when it also had four picks and its tied for the most in program history since the conference moved to two postseason teams in 1994.
Picked to finish fifth in the preseason and coming off of a 2022 season where the Pirates missed the BIG EAST tournament, the Seton Hall coaching staff — assistant coach Ryan Ramiz, pitching coach Jimmy Moran, associate head coach Giuseppe Papaccio and head coach Rob Sheppard — guided the program to its most wins since 2016 and the number three seed at this year's BIG EAST Championship. In conference play, the Pirates finished in the top three in fielding (third, .978), pitching (first, 4.58 ERA) and offense (.299). It's the first conference coaching honor for the program since Mike Sheppard, Sr. was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year in 1989.
Payero went 3-1 in BIG EAST play this season with 36 strikeouts in 38.1 innings pitching and has won his last three decisions going into the postseason. He earned three conference honors this season; twice named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll and once Pitcher of the Week after striking out five in four innings of relief to earn the win at No. 12 North Carolina to open the season. Payero has set career bests in starts, innings pitching and strikeouts and set single game highs with eight strikeouts at Xavier on April 28 and 7.1 scoreless innings pitched against Creighton on May 12.
Viera gets tabbed to the league's top postseason team in his first season as a BIG EAST shortstop. He hit .325 in BIG EAST play with a team-best 32 RBI and seven doubles, two categories where he finished in the top five in the conference. Viera also stole five bags in league play and helped the Pirates turned 13 of its 17 double plays against conference foes. He was named BIG EAST Player of the Week on April 3 after hitting .565 batting average and was a perfect 8-for-8 in stolen base attempts in a week that featured a series victory over Georgetown.
Pokrovsky has served as the Pirates' power bat all season long as he's just the fifth Pirate since 2000 to hit 10 home runs in season. He finished the regular season fifth in the BIG EAST with a .348 batting average, first with a .742 slugging percentage, tied for second with seven home runs and tied for third with 49 total bases. Pokrovsky was named to the BIG EAST Weekly Honor Roll this past week after going 4-for-11 at the plate with a double, two home runs, five RBI and a team-best five runs scored in a sweep of Villanova.
Hack did it all for Seton Hall in conference play, turning in one of the top seasons for a Pirate against BIG EAST foes in recent memory. He finished the regular season with a .439 batting average in conference play and 36 hits, both the best in the league. He also ranked second with 11 stole bases, second with a .495 on-base percentage and tied for third with two triples. Hack was named BIG EAST Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks on May 1 and May 15 and was tabbed to the Weekly Honor Roll on April 10. He did all of this while patrolling center field for the Pirate where he didn't commit an error, had an outfield assist and registered 57 putouts. Hack has played in all 53 games for The Hall this season.
On the second team is Luders, who has been a standout on offense and defense for The Hall all season long. He finished third in the conference with a .489 on-base percentage in league games and did all of the little things that helped the Pirates win 31 games; leading the BIG EAST with five sacrifice bunts and eight times was hit by a pitch in against league foes. Luders played a strong second base as he ranked fourth in the conference with 57 assists and tied for third turning 14 double plays in BIG EAST games. He only committed one error in 100 fielding chances since the start of league play.
