2022 Gulls Rack Up End of Season Awards

 

By Caden Charpentier -- Media Operations Coordinator

 

NEWPORT, R.I. –  Over the past few days, conferences from all over the country have given out awards to honor the best talent from the 2022 season. Nine players across the country who are making their way to Newport this summer were awarded for their tremendous play on the diamond this past season. 

 

Leading the way as this year’s Tony Gwynn Mountain West Conference’s Player of the Year, is Sam Kulasingam from the United States Air Force Academy, becoming the first Falcon to win the award in program history. He led the entire conference in batting average in conference games at .457, hits with a remarkable 63, slugging percentage of .797, and on-base percentage of .516. His .412 batting average for the entire season puts him fourth in all of Division I. Kulasingham’s astounding 98 hits in 2022 are tied for second in the country and are a Falcons program record for a single season.

 

 

In the Southeastern Conference (SEC), Vanderbilt starting pitcher Devin Futrell was named to the All-SEC Freshman Team. Futrell finished the season with a 3.27 earned run average (ERA), which was good for second on the Commodores. He started 11 games in his first season with this storied Vanderbilt program, posting 59 strikeouts in 55 innings of work. 

Outfielder Jared Wegner of the Creighton Bluejays was a unanimous selection to the Big-East All-Conference First Team. Wegner was a force to be reckoned with in his junior season with the Bluejays, posting a batting average of .345, a .649 slugging percentage, and a team-high 52 RBIs. Wegner bounced back after a season-ending injury halted his progress during his sophomore year as he helped lead Creighton to possessing the best batting average in the Big East Conference at .299. 

 

 

The West Coast Conference named outfielder Coleman Brigman of Santa Clara University as an honorable mention to the All-Conference teams. The San Jose, California native led the Broncos with 62 hits in 51 games. Second baseman Josh Kuroda-Grauer of Rutgers University was named to the All Big-Ten Third Team in just his first season as a Scarlett Knight. Kuroda-Grauer’s 72 RBIs were the most on the second-best team, record-wise in the conference in 2022.  

 

Elsewhere in the Big-Ten, catcher Bryan Broecker of Michigan State University was named to the All-Freshman Team. Broecker led the Big-Ten in CSB (Caught Stealing By), throwing 22 people out from behind the plate. In the Southern Conference, outfielder Colton Ledbetter of Samford University was selected to the All-Conference Second-Team. Ledbetter was tied for fifth in the conference in home runs with 14 and led his Bulldog team in doubles and RBIs. 

 

Infielder Noah Martinez from Central Connecticut State University was honored by the Northeast Conference (NEC) as he was named to the All-Conference First-Team, an improvement from his All-Conference Second-Team selection a year ago. He posted a .305 batting average and finished first in the entire conference in home runs, RBIs with 14 homers, and 59 runs batted in. 

 

A few minutes away from Cardines Field, Salve Regina pitcher Dominic Perachi had a remarkable junior season on the mound. He was named the Commonwealth Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year. Perachi posted a mind-boggling ERA of 0.47, putting him at first in the nation for all of Division III baseball. He was selected as the Pitcher of the Week four times throughout the 2022 season and was in the top ten in Division III baseball for strikeouts per nine innings, and walks and hits per inning pitched (WHIP).