Sophomore right fielder James Roche (Arlington/Arlington HS) heads a list of five Bentley University players who were recognized recently when the Northeast-10 Conference announced its 2009 All-Conference baseball team.
Roche was selected for the All-Northeast-10 first team while teammates Brett Damato (Commack), Rob Finneran (Garden City) and Charlie Pagliarulo (Medford) garnered second-team accolades.
Rounding out the list of honorees was pitcher Dan Murphy (Garden City), who was selected to the NE-10 All-Rookie team.
Finneran, a sophomore pitching collegiately for the first time, and Murphy became only the fourth and fifth pitchers in Bentley history to finish a season five games over .500. Finneran was 7-2 with a 3.10 ERA and 66 strikeouts while Murphy (team-best 2.81 ERA) was unbeaten in his five decisions.
Finneran posted shutouts against Southern New Hampshire and Saint Anselm and had a dozen strikeouts against Southern Connecticut. Murphy’s season included a complete game four-hitter against Merrimack and an eight-hit shutout against Pace.
Bentley finished the season at 28-22 overall, the most wins in the program’s history, and was an impressive 26-14 against NCAA Division II East Region competition.
