Temple's Roach an all-star
Temple senior leftfielder Al Roach (Shawnee) was named to the Atlantic Ten Conference all-star baseball team. Roach led Temple with a .385 average and finished second on the team in homers (seven) and third in RBIs (41).
He also led the Owls (23-26) in at-bats, runs, hits, doubles, total bases and slugging percentage. Defensively, he handled 104 chances without an error. Roach finished his career with 166 hits, 18th on Temple's all-time list.
Junior lefthander Justin Mendek, a Gloucester Catholic graduate, pitched in 16 games (11 starts) for Temple this season and compiled a 2-5 record.
Rutgers-Camden honorees
Seniors Erin James (Gloucester), Chad Zimecki (Cinnaminson), An-ni Tsai (Kingsway) and Dave Petitt (Overbrook), and junior Crystal Lucas (West Deptford) were the major award winners at Rutgers-Camden's annual sports banquet.
James, a three-year member of the women's basketball team who also earned letters in cross-country and softball this season, and Zimecki, a four-year men's soccer letter winner, were honored as the female and male athletes of the year.
Tsai and Petitt, veterans of the volleyball and baseball programs, respectively, were winners of the Wilbur W. Wilson Scholar-Athlete Award.
Lucas, a three-year women's basketball letter winner, was honored with the William P. Carty Memorial Award as the university's most courageous athlete.
The MVP winners included Chris McGowan (Gloucester Catholic) for men's cross-country; Tina DiGiovanni (Collingswood) for women's cross-country; Zimecki for men's soccer; Rachel Greenwald (West Deptford) for women's soccer; Joy Silver (Woodrow Wilson) for volleyball; James for women's basketball; Gene Mergenthal (Highland) for men's basketball; Michelle Schlichtig (Haddon Heights) for softball; Hugh Arbuthnot (Cherokee) for golf; Raphael Fuentes (Haddonfield) for men's track and field; Tameka Jackson (Sterling) for women's track and field; and Matt Ulmer (Holy Cross) for baseball.
Locals aid St. Joe's
Senior first baseman/pitcher Bill McCollum (Shawnee) and freshman pitcher/shortstop Adriano Petrutz (Sterling) were bright spots for St. Joseph's University's dismal baseball season. The Hawks finished 10-44.
McCollum played in 49 games and batted .293. Petrutz played in 14 games and went 2-5 with a team-best 4.10 ERA and a .318 batting average.
Other Hawks contributors included junior outfielder Joe DiNobile (Moorestown), junior pitcher Al Braun (Audubon), senior pitcher Joe Mucci (Pitman), and freshman pitcher Joel Grimshaw (Clearview).
Contact staff writer Sam Carchidi at 215-854-5181 or scarchidi@phillynews.com.
