LANCASTER, Pa. - Seven members of the McDaniel College baseball team received All-Centennial Conference honors on Thursday, including graduate student
Shane Daly who was named Player of the Year and sophomore
Thomas Mezzullo who earned Gold Glove of the Year.
The seven all-conference selections tie a program record for the Green Terror, equaling the number of selections they had in 2024. The team also had seven selections in 1962 as a member of the Middle Atlantic Conference.
Over the last five seasons, McDaniel has totaled 23 all-conference selections.
Daly and Mezullo were both named to the first team, senior
Ben Davis was named to the second team, while junior
Ryan Buecker, first-year
Chase Shepard, junior
Shea McKenna, and sophomore
Anthony Cerone were named honorable mention.
Daly, who earned his third all-conference honor, is the fourth player from McDaniel to earn Player of the Year honors and first since Marty Windisch in 2016. Daly, who also earned Rookie of the Year honors in 2022, is the second player in conference history to earn both Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year. Franklin & Marshall's Dan Marano was named Rookie of the Year in 2015 and Player of the Year in 2018.
Daly was second on the team and ninth in the Centennial Conference with a .394 batting average, while leading the league with 70 runs scored and ranking second with 69 hits, the second-most in a single season in program history. He also leads the conference with 18 doubles and ranks second with 29 stolen bases.
Mezzullo earned his first career all-conference selection and is the first Green Terror to earn Gold Glove of the Year since it began in 2015. He led the team and ranks second in the conference with a .433 batting average. He set a new program record and led the conference with 71 hits and led the league with 120 assists. He is the eighth shortstop to win the award in its 11-year history.
The coaching staff, led by fifth-year head coach
Jim Carone, was selected by their peers as the Coaching Staff of the Year for the second time in the last three seasons. McDaniel finished the season with 29 victories, the second-most in program history, and a win shy of the program's second-ever 30-win campaign.
Davis is the third player in program history to earn four all-conference selections, joining Marty Windisch (2014-16) and Larry Suder (1966-69). Davis ranked third on the team and 10th in the conference with a .393 batting average. He is also second in the league in RBIs (64), fourth in hits (66), fourth in doubles (15), and eighth in runs scored (52).
McKenna is one of nine players in program history to be named all-conference three times. The Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year in 2024, he hit .345 this season with 50 hits, 48 runs scored, 15 doubles, one triple, one home run, and 35 RBIs. He also stole 10 bases.
Buecker, Shepard, and Cerone each received their first all-conference selection.
Buecker finished third on the team with three wins, third with six starts, and fourth with 28.2 innings pitched. He posted a 3-1 record in seven appearances.
Shepard is the third first-year to earn all-conference honors for McDaniel in the last four seasons, joining Davis (2023) and McKenna (2024). He tied for the team lead and ranked fifth in the league with three saves. He also ranked third on the team with three wins and 24 strikeouts, totaling a 3-0 record in eight appearances and 26.1 innings.
Cerone ranked second on the team and fifth in the conference with 56 RBIs while hitting .378 with 54 hits, eight doubles, and five home runs. Over the team's final 18 games, he hit .395 with 30 hits, four doubles, three home runs and a team-high 29 RBIs.
