Rivers, Macias to partake in skills competition

NECBL All-Star Teams
NECBL Skills Competition Participants

RINDGE, N.H. (July 14, 2009) – Junior right-hander Sean Keeler (Cazenovia, N.Y./Hutchinson CC) of the Franklin Pierce University baseball team has been selected to represent the West Division in the New England Collegiate Baseball League All-Star Game. The game is scheduled for Saturday, July 18 at 6:30 p.m. at MacKenzie Stadium in Holyoke, Mass.

In addition, junior right fielder Kevin Rivers (Bristol, Conn./Bristol Eastern), also of the Danbury Westerners, will participate in the Home Run Derby as part of the NECBL's annual skills competition. Sophomore shortstop Jose Macias (Bronx, N.Y./Monroe College) will take part in the infield throwing portion of the skills competition as a representative of the Keene Swamp Bats. The skills competition is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Keeler is in the midst of a successful season for the NECBL’s Danbury Westerners. In 13 relief appearances this summer, he holds a 2-0 record with one save and a 1.38 earned-run average. Over 13 innings on the hill, Keeler has surrendered three runs (two earned) on six hits, walked four, thrown two wild pitches, hit a batter and struck out 14 while holding opponents to a .130 batting average. He has allowed just one extra-base hit so far this summer.

For Franklin Pierce this spring, Keeler posted a 1-1 record and a 2.84 earned-run average in 10 relief appearances. Over 12.2 innings on the rubber, he allowed four runs on eight hits, walked six, threw a pair of wild pitches, hit a batter and struck out 19. Opponents hit .229 off of Keeler during the college season.

Rivers currently ranks second on Danbury with four home runs and leads the team with 21 runs batted in. In 28 games this summer, he has posted a .283 batting average (28-for-99) with seven doubles and 11 runs scored. Rivers has drawn 11 walks and been hit by two pitches to tally a .475 slugging percentage and a .360 on-base percentage.

For the Ravens this spring, Rivers finished fifth on the team with a .314 batting average (64-for-204) and led the team with 19 doubles. He finished second in the conference in doubles, tied for sixth in hits, eighth in runs scored (40) and total bases (103) and 11th in slugging percentage (.505) and runs batted in (37). He collected American Baseball Coaches Association All-East Regiona Second Team and All-Northeast-10 Conference Second Team accolades.

Macias has made just two errors this summer en route to posting a .979 fielding percentage. In 21 games with the Swamp Bats, he has hit .161 (10-for-62) with one double, nine runs batted in and six runs scored. Macias has been successful in five of six stolen-base attempts, walked five times and been hit by three pitches.

A newcomer to the Franklin Pierce lineup this spring, Macias started all but two games at shortstop for the Ravens. He hit .266 (45-for-169) in 53 games on the season with six doubles, one triple, 20 runs batted in and 28 runs scored. In addition, Macias drew 13 walks and stole nine bases. His single in the bottom of the 10th inning on May 2 drove in the winning run in a 1-0 victory over Massachusetts Lowell which clinched the Northeast-10 Conference regular season title for Franklin Pierce.

The NECBL is one of the nation’s premier wood-bat, collegiate summer leagues and is sanctioned by both the NCAA and Major League Baseball.

Franklin Pierce (37-18) captured their third Northeast-10 Conference regular season title in four years this spring and followed that with their third consecutive Northeast-10 Championship title, which was the program’s fourth in five years. Franklin Pierce earned the second seed in the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship East Regional and hosted an NCAA regional for the fifth consecutive season.