For Immediate Release: June 16, 2004
Contact: John Hartrick (hartrick@binghamton.edu)
Phone: 607-777-6800

Binghamton baseball player Balback selected as first team All-Northeast Region
Bearcats' third baseman will now go on national All-America ballot

VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton University baseball player Jay Balback (Millsboro, Del./Sussex) has been named to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-Northeast Region First Team, the school learned today. He becomes the program's first-ever ABCA first-team selection at any division. In the 1990s, Binghamton had eight Division III all-region selections on either the second or third team.

The first and second teams were voted on by the head coaches in the 43-school region. Balback and the other first-team honorees will now move on to the national All-America ballot, which will be reviewed by the Division I All-America Committee in Omaha, Neb., during the NCAA College World Series.

"This is a tremendous honor for Jay - one that he most certainly deserves," head coach Tim Sinicki said. "Across the board, Jay had the single greatest offensive season of any player in program history. He also worked extremely hard to turn himself into perhaps the best defensive third baseman in the region."

The regional honor is the latest in a series of accolades for Balback, who completed his stellar two-year career at Binghamton this past spring. In 2004, he was team MVP and a first team All-America East selection after hitting .348 with a school-record and conference-best 14 home runs. His slugging percentage of .729 currently ranks 18th in the nation, and he also ranked among the America East top-5 in 10 offensive categories, including home runs (1st), slugging percentage (1st), on-base percentage (2nd) and RBI (3rd). Balback drove in 45 runs in 43 games to set BU's single-season record, and will also graduate as the career home run leader with 27 round-trippers in just two seasons.

Balback was one of three America East players named to the all-region first team, joining a pair of Albany athletes.

Binghamton (22-21) more than doubled its win total from a year ago, and missed out on a conference playoff spot by just one win.

ABCA All-Northeast Teams

FIRST TEAM
1B - Dan Batz, Rhode Island
2B - Nate Stone, Army
SS - Ed Lucas, Dartmouth
3B - Jay Balback, Binghamton
OF - Jeff Justice, Le Moyne
OF - Jason Delaney, Boston College
OF - Rob Hosgood, Central Connecticut State
OF - B.J. Szymanski, Princeton
C - Frank Curreri, UMass
DH - Derek Degrazio, Albany
SP - Matt Scherer, Le Moyne
SP - Nick Hill, Army
SP - Al Drechsler, Le Moyne
RP - Shawn Ryan, Albany

SECOND TEAM
1B - Trey Hendricks, Harvard
2B - Keith Stegbauer, Central Connecticut State
SS - Zak Farkes, Harvard
3B - Andre Enriquez, Le Moyne
OF - Keith Brachold, Marist
OF - Kyle Brown, Le Moyne
OF - Andrew Larsen, Stony Brook
C - Schuyler Williamson, Army
DH - Tim Smith, NY Tech
SP - Chris Lambert, Boston College
SP - Jordan Thomson, Northeastern
SP - Zach Zuercher, Rhode Island
RP - Chris Hansen, St. John's