Schedule/Results | Roster | Stats | News | Archives

May 14, 2009

MEDFORD, MA - University of Massachusetts Boston baseball player Ryan Walsh (Newton, MA) was named to the 2009 New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association New England Division III Baseball Second Team it was announced today.

Walsh is honored for the second time this week after landing a spot on the Little East Conference First Team as well. The second baseman enjoyed one of the greatest all-around offensive seasons in school history. He led the team with a .424 (70-165) batting average, which ranked sixth among conference leaders and stands as the third-highest batting mark in school history. The sophomore set school records for hits (70) and total bases (98), while tying the school mark for doubles in a season with 18. His hit total placed him second among LEC players, while standing 11th in total bases and fourth in doubles. A graduate of Newton North High School, he finished just one stolen base shy of UMass Boston's single-season record with 24 to lead the Beacons and rank second in the league. He was among the LEC's top 10 in on-base percentage with a team-leading .503 mark, hit by pitch with nine to stand seventh, sacrifice flies with a team-high three to place seventh and fielding assists with 104 to stand sixth and rank as the sixth-highest total in school annals. The second-year player scored 48 times for the second-most in school history and ranked 12th among conference leaders, while drawing 20 bases on balls to put him 17th among league leaders. He also smacked a pair of triples to place 19th in the Little East and knocked in 34 runs for the fifth-highest total in school history. Walsh started all 41 games for UMass Boston after making the switch from shortstop to second base prior to the start of the season, and made the most of every game he was in, hitting safely in all but five games. He registered a hit in each of the first three games of the season to run his hitting streak to 20 straight games, dating back to the final 17 games of the 2008 campaign. The six-foot, 180-pound Walsh went hitless in consecutive games just once all season and reached base via a hit, walk or hit by pitch in all but one game on the year. He also had a streak of 46 games reaching base in that manner that stretched from April 8, 2008 to April 16, 2009. Walsh finished the season with a nine-game hitting streak which was one of three streaks of at least nine straight games on the season for him. The second baseman racked up 23 multiple-hit games to lead the Beacons, including seven three-hit games and a pair of four-hit efforts. He closed out the season with a .488 (20-41) hitting mark in his last nine contests with seven multi-hit performances, including six doubles to go with a triple.

Walsh is currently hitting .367 (116-316) in 82 career games to rank third on the UMB all-time list and owns a .440 on-base mark. In just two seasons with the Beacons he already ranks third on the career doubles list with 29, fifth in slugging percentage with a .519 mark, eighth in hits with 116, ninth in runs scored (73), total bases (164), stolen bases (28) and 10th in being hit by pitch with 13. Walsh also ranks among the lifetime fielding leaders with 223 assists for the fourth-highest total in school history.

UMass Boston finished the season with a 19-22 record, including a school-record 8-6 Little East Conference mark. The Beacons defeated a pair of nationally-ranked teams along the way, including number one University of Southern Maine on April 24 and swept Rhode Island College in the LEC Tournament to advance to the tournament's final four.