Norfolk State senior left hander Matt Outman has been voted as the MEAC Pitcher of the Year for the second consecutive year and heads up a list of six Spartans who earned All-MEAC baseball honors as the conference released its postseason awards on Tuesday, May 17, 2016.

NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State senior left hander Matt Outman has been voted as the MEAC Pitcher of the Year for the second consecutive year and heads up a list of six Spartans who earned All-MEAC baseball honors as the conference released its postseason awards on Tuesday.

Outman, junior right hander Jonathan Mauricio and sophomore right hander Alex Mauricio earned first-team All-MEAC honors, accounting for three of the four first-team slots for pitchers. Sophomore right hander Michael Parmentier and junior outfielder Denathan Dukes were voted to the second team, and senior designated hitter Kyle Vaas was named to the third team.

Outman, the MEAC Preseason Pitcher of the Year, also won the postseason honor last year. Outman led the MEAC in wins for the second year in a row, finishing the regular season with a 7-2 record and a 2.62 ERA. He struck out 66 batters in 79 innings pitched spanning 12 starts. Outman also led the MEAC in innings pitched and shutouts (three), was second in ERA and fourth in strikeouts. He was a two-time MEAC Pitcher of the Week winner and is also a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award for Division I baseball. Outman has a 23-6 career record at NSU in three seasons and is currently tied for the top spot in program history in career victories.

In his first year as a member of the Spartans’ weekend rotation, Jonathan Mauricio leads the MEAC with a 2.22 ERA and is tied for second in wins behind Outman, with six (6-2). He has pitched three complete games, tied for second in the MEAC, and has fanned 57 batters in 56.2 innings pitched. Mauricio has thrown three complete games, including two shutouts, and was named MEAC Pitcher of the Week for April 18. Mauricio currently ranks 66th nationally in ERA. He and Outman occupy the only two first-team starting pitcher slots on the All-MEAC team.

Alex Mauricio, Jonathan’s younger brother, earned one of two All-MEAC first team relief pitcher spots. Alex Mauricio, who also usually starts at third base, is tied for the MEAC lead with five saves this season. He has a 2-1 record with a 3.08 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 26.1 innings pitched. Opponents are hitting just .211 against him. Alex Mauricio is currently on the watch list for the 2016 John Olerud Award, which is given annually to the top two-way player in Division I baseball. He was not scored upon in four MEAC pitching appearances.

Parmentier, a second-team All-MEAC relief pitcher, is second on the squad and tied for third in the MEAC with four saves. Parmentier is 1-3 overall with a 4.71 ERA and has struck out 64 batters in just 49.2 innings pitched. He has been particularly strong in the second half of the season, amassing a 0.61 ERA in MEAC-only games. This week’s MEAC Pitcher of the Week, Parmentier has made 17 of his 20 appearances in relief and ranks second in the conference and 15th nationally with 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings.

Dukes earned All-MEAC honors for the second year in a row in the outfield. A first-team pick in 2015, the fleet-footed Dukes missed 11 of the first 12 games of the year due to injury but rebounded to have another strong season in the lead-off spot for NSU. Dukes is batting .305 with a team-high 40 runs scored and a MEAC-leading 25 stolen bases in 26 attempts. He has eight doubles, one triple and 15 RBI and boasts a .425 on-base percentage. Dukes ranks fifth in the country in stolen bases per game (0.71) and 18th in runs per game (1.14), both of which lead all MEAC players. Dukes was the MEAC Player of the Week for April 18.

Vaas leads the Spartans with a .319 batting average, .439 on-base percentage and a .513 slugging percentage entering the MEAC tournament. He has nine doubles, two triples, three home runs and 28 runs batted in to his credit while seeing most of his time in the DH spot. He was the MEAC Player of the Week for April 11. Vaas ranks among the MEAC’s top 10 in slugging (eighth) and on-base percentage (ninth). He hit two homers in a win over North Carolina Central back in March.

Florida A&M took home the MEAC Player (Dylan Dillard) and Coach (Jamey Shouppe) of the Year awards. Bethune-Cookman’s Danny Rodriguez was voted MEAC Rookie of the Year.

Originally published at NSUSpartans.com