2021 All-PacWest Teams
IRVINE, Calif. – Fantastic play this year helped ART U to claim the
Pacific West Conference Northern California pod title, and now four key elements of Academy of Art baseball are having their play recognized by receiving All-PacWest honors. Junior outfielder
Ty Conrad and senior right-handed pitcher
Jayson Summers have each been named to the All-PacWest Second Team, while redshirt junior shortstop
Dominic Ruggiero and graduate student outfielder
Andrew Shebloski earned All-PacWest Third Team honors, and it is the first such honor in the career of all four student-athletes.
"These are four well-deserving players who, combined with the rest of our squad, contributed to one of the most unique seasons ever," said ART U Head Coach
Dan McDermott. "Jayson [Summers] and Andrew [Shebloski] are not only great athletes, but outstanding students and people. We will really miss them in the future and are so grateful for all they have done for the program. Dominic [Ruggiero] and Ty [Conrad] are consummate leaders and represent the 'Hard Nose' mentality we bring every day. We are looking forward to having them back next season."
The four players earning All-PacWest honors are tied for the most in ART U history, doing so in consecutive seasons after having had four representatives on an All-PacWest team in 2019 (no awards given in 2020). Combining their production helped lead the Urban Knights to the second-best batting average as a team in the PacWest at .303 (first: APU, .337) while ranking fifth in ERA (5.78), and earned Academy of Art the chance to play in the PacWest AQ Pod Series against Hawaii Champion UH Hilo and Southern California Champion Azusa Pacific, hosted by the Cougars.
As one of the driving forces in the heart of the lineup at the No. 3 spot, Conrad earned his spot on the All-PacWest Second Team by ending the season in the top-10 of the PacWest in five different categories, including runs scored (t-8th, 30), hits (t-4th, 42), doubles (t-9th, 7), and RBI (8th, 30). Meanwhile, his .344 average was third-best on ART U and he led the team in home runs (t-1st, 3), slugging percentage (t-1st, .492), and OPS (1st, .909).
On
Mar. 13 in a 17-4 win over HNU, Conrad was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and five RBI with a towering three-run home run in the eighth inning, putting the finishing touches on ART U's largest run total in a single game this season and tied for the
second-most runs scored in ART U history (also:
Feb. 9, 2020 vs CWU). No slouch with the glove, Conrad also has 57 putouts and three assists for a .952 fielding percentage.
The only pitching selection for the Knights making the All-PacWest Second Team, Summers was top-10 across six categories in the PacWest, as his 3.67 ERA was eighth-best while his opponent batting average was fourth-best at .214.
Striking out at least two batters in all eight starts, Summers would sit down at least four batters via the punch out in each of his first six starts, leading to a total of 49 for the season (9th-most in the PacWest). This year, he set his career mark for wins in a season (3) as well as strikeouts in a single game, mowing down 10 batters
on Apr. 23 in a 4-2 win over Holy Names, which coincidentally was victory No. 100 in the ART U career of Head Coach Dan McDemott.
Proficient with both the glove and the bat while roaming the outfield and anchoring the leadoff spot for Academy of Art, Shebloski's All-PacWest Third Team award comes after he was top-5 on the Knights in six offensive categories including average (5th, .311), runs (2nd, 27), and hits (3rd, 38).
Twelve times he had a multi-hit game (second-most on the team) and three times he drove in multiple RBI, reaching base safely in seven straight games. Out in the field, Shebloski's fielding percentage of .984 was the 14th best in all of the PacWest, totaling 58 putouts and two assists, as he once memorably robbed a home run
against HNU on Mar. 12 before leading off the next inning with a base knock.
A true hit machine this season from the two spot being named to the All-PacWest Third Team, Ruggiero was second in the PacWest in hits (45) and doubles (10) while ranking tied for third in triples (3) in 2021.
His season began by
reaching base safely in each of ART U's first 19 games, tying a single-season ART U program record, while his 16-game hitting streak was the longest such streak by a Knight this season. In addition to the hitting streak, Ruggerio's 16 multi-hit games were the most on Academy of Art, which included a pair of three-hit games, while he was second on ART U in RBI (19) and third in runs scored (26).
"We had a great many players deserving of postseason accolades, and the four guys receiving these awards are also a recognition of the efforts of the entire team," McDermott said.
