LOWELL, Mass. – Junior lefty Sean Newcomb highlighted a list of seven University of Hartford baseball players who received America East All-Conference awards on Wednesday evening as he was named the America East Pitcher of the Year at the annual Awards Bar-B-Que at LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass. Newcomb added another accolade to his resume as he also landed a spot on the First Team All-Conference for the second-straight season.

Joining Newcomb in receiving league distinction were seniors James Alfonso, Brian Hunter and Alex Gouin, who were three of five Hawks on the All-Conference Second Team. Junior right fielder Ryan Lukach and rookie third baseman David MacKinnon rounded out the second team choices for Hartford. An Easton, Mass. native, MacKinnon double dipped, earning All-Rookie Team distinction for the second time this year as he received the same honor at the conclusion of his inaugural season with the men's soccer team.

Alfonso and Hunter also doubled up on the awards, earning spots on the All-Academic Team for the third-straight year. The duo is joined by junior first baseman Brady Sheetz, who scored the honor for his second-consecutive season.

Newcomb's Pitcher of the Year honor marks the first major athletic award for the Hartford baseball team. The only other major awards handed out to the Hawks were a pair of baseball Scholar-Athlete winners in Steve Matthews (1993) and Brian Biskupiak (1997). In addition, Newcomb's first-team distinction marks the 10th time a Hartford player has earned the honor.

The Hawks' lead starter in the rotation, Newcomb tops the America East and is 13th in the nation with a 1.36 earned run average, which also would rank as the lowest single season ERA in the history of the program. He also leads the league with 92 strikeouts, which ties his career-high, and in opponent batting average where he is holding the opposition to .168. Newcomb's 92 strikeouts rank as the 27th-most in the country while his 5.11 hits-per-nine-innings is currently fourth-best in the nation. In just three years, the Middleboro, Mass. native has become the only player in school history to amass 200 strikeouts.

With the five players named to the second team in 2014, Hartford has now placed 18 student-athletes on the second team all-time, while this year's honors are the first on the second team since 2012 when Simon Kudernatsch received the distinction. This year also marks the most Hawks in program history to receive second-team honors in the same season, beating out the previous high of three in 1992 (Steve Matthews, Bob Nenna, Aaron Leonard).

Hunter and Gouin were listed on the second-team as a starting pitcher and relief pitcher, respectively. Hunter, the number two starter in the rotation, has posted a 3.35 ERA in conference play, pitching 51 innings and allowing 22 runs, 19 of which were earned. The Port Jeff Station, N.Y. native also struck out 35 batters in league action and 60 overall this season, which places him two spots behind Newcomb in all-time career punch outs.

Gouin, a West Orange, N.Y. native, stepped into the primary closer role for the Hawks, securing nine saves, a school record for a single season. For the season, Gouin has made 17 appearances out of the pen, pitching a total of 23 innings. He has allowed seven runs, all earned, on 21 hits while striking out 15 batters, for a 2.74 ERA.

Alfonso, the main battery partner behind the plate from Raynham, Mass., closed out the regular season second on the team with a .302 batting average. He is tied with fellow second-team honoree Lukach for a team-high 54 hits and five home runs. Alfonso has driven in 29 runs, while his five home runs is part of a team-best 20 extra base hits which includes 13 doubles and two triples, all of which leads to the fifth-best slugging percentage in the league (.480). A Hillsborough, N.J. native, Lukach has amassed a .292 batting average with his five home runs coming as part of 16 extra base hits on eight doubles and a team-high three triples. Lukach also leads the Hawks with 21 walks and 30 RBIs.

Rounding out the second-team honors and representing the only Hawk on the All-Rookie Team, Mackinnon closed out his first season with the Hawks by leading the team with a .347 batting average. The third basemen has scattered 41 hits over 36 games, while knocking in 18 and scoring 18 runs. Ten of his 51 total hits have gone for two bases, a mark that is tied for the second-most on the team. His all-rookie honor marks the fourth-straight year a Hawk has been named to the freshman squad, which includes current teammates Newcomb, Hunter, Lukach and Chris DelDebbio. He is also the 13th all-rookie selection in the history of the program.

The off-field honors for the Hawks now equals 16 total in the history of the program, a stretch that includes at least one All-Academic Team selection in each of the last seven years. Alfonso and Hunter's three-straight years on the All-Academic squad represents the third and fourth player to earn the honor in all eligible years, joining Rodger Wilmot ('11) and Simon Kudernatsch ('12).

Sheetz will enter the postseason third on the team with a .295 batting average, collecting 51 total hits in 173 at bats. From Eighty Four, Pa., he is also third on the team with 26 RBIs while scoring 26 runs. He has also scattered 10 doubles and a team-high three triples over his 51 total hits, while he has been hit by a pitch a league-high 20 times which is also 15th most in the nation.

The Hawks will begin the quest for the programs first-ever league championship on Thursday when they meet the third-seeded Binghamton Bearcats in the opening round of the tournament. Hartford and Binghamton met six times in the regular season, splitting the series down the middle with each team winning two-of-three on its home field. First pitch in the tournament opener is scheduled for 6 p.m. at LeLacheur Park.