Frazier and Egbert Highlight Rutgers' NJCBA Award Winners
May 18 | Baseball
PISCATAWAY, NJ – Juniors Jeff Frazier (Toms River, NJ) and Jack Egbert (Rutherford, NJ) have been named New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Baseball Association (NJCBA) Division I Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, to highlight the Rutgers' list of 2004 honorees. In addition to Frazier and Egbert, four other Scarlet Knights earned First Team All-State honors.
Frazier is the first second Scarlet Knight to win the award in as many years, joining Matt Wolski, who was honored last season. Recent winners include Billy McCarthy (2001), Darren Fenster (2000) and Pete Zoccolillo (1999).
Egbert is the fourth RU hurler in the last six years to win the award, joining Jim Wilson (1999), Bobby Brownlie (2000) and Tom Wheeler (2002).
Frazier, hitting .376 with a team-high 12 home runs and 54 RBI, is joined in the outfield by Jeff Grose (Iselin, NJ). The First Team All-State infield includes catcher Colin Gaynor (Toms River, NJ), first baseman Rich Canuso (Monroe, NJ) and second baseman Graig Badger (Union, NJ). Grose is hitting .341 with two home runs and 29 RBI as the No. 2 hitting RU's lineup, while Gaynor is hitting .340 with three home runs and 34 RBI.
Canuso, RU's cleanup hitter, is hitting .365 with 13 doubles, eight home runs and 45 RBI – all second-best on the team behind Frazier. Badger, meanwhile, is among the nation's top leadoff hitters, posting a .514 on-base percentage with a team-high 41 walks and 24 steals. He is also hitting .372 thus far.
Starting pitcher Aaron Kalb (Middletown, NJ), shortstop Jason Grover (Montgomery, NJ) and outfielders Nick Cerulo (Woodbridge, NJ) and Johnny Defendis (Staten Island, NY) earn second team all-state honors. All-Rookie representatives were third baseman Tim Querns (Cherry Hill, NJ) and starting pitcher Steve Healing (Brick, NJ).
Princeton's Gavin Fabian was named Division I Pitcher of the Year, while Brian Kappel of Princeton earned Relief Pitcher of the Year honors. Rider's Sonny Pittaro is the Division I Coach of the Year.
At the II/III level, Centenary's Nigel Archibald earned Player of the Year honors, while Josh Schwartz of Rowan was named the Pitcher of the Year. TCNJ's Gerard Haran and Kean's Dan Zeffiro were honored as Rookie Player and Rookie Pitcher of the Year, respectively, while TCNJ's Julius Jenkins repeated as Relief Pitcher of the Year. John Cole (Rowan) was selected as the Coach of the Year.
The aforementioned Scarlet Knights, along with all other Division I and Division II/III honorees, will be lauded at the association's annual banquet at the Pines Manor in Edison, NJ on Tuesday, June 1.
