Baseball lands two outfielders on America East All-Conference Teams

Complete All-Star Teams

Two Binghamton University baseball players were selected to the 2003 America East All-Conference Teams, the school learned today. Junior outfielders T.J. Kowalchuk (Stormville, N.Y./Carmel) and Joe Costello (Ventnor, N.J./Cumberland CC) were among 22 student-athletes chosen to the first and second teams.

Kowalchuk, who played 49 games in center field, was a first team selection as one of the best three outfielders in the seven-team league. He ranked among the America East top-10 in four categories: RBI (5th), home runs (7th), slugging percentage (9th) and total bases (10th). Kowalchuk, who batted fifth in the lineup, drove in a team-high 41 runs (0.84 per game) and batted .300. He also belted eight home runs and had 20 extra-base hits. His 41 RBI nearly doubled last year's output, and Kowalchuk moved into fifth place on BU's all-time list in both RBI (80) and doubles (28) with his senior season still ahead.

Costello, BU's clean-up hitter, enjoyed a strong first-year with the program after transferring from Cumberland Community College in New Jersey. He batted .313 with 51 hits and 35 RBI in 51 starts in left field. He ranked third in the conference in doubles (14), eighth in RBI and ninth in total bases. Costello produced several huge offensive performances, highlighted by a 5-for-5, 4 RBI performance against Lehigh on March 23. In all, he drove in three or more runs five times, including a 4-for-4, 4 RBI effort against America East regular season champion Vermont on May 10. Costello put together a 10-game hit streak in late March, and was selected as both the America East Player of the Week and CollegeBaseballInsider.com Northeast Player of the Week on March 24.