QU Baseball’s Thomas Jankins and Mike Palladino Recognized with College Sports Madness Preseason Honors
1/26/2016 4:30:00 PM | Baseball
HAMDEN, Connecticut – Quinnipiac baseball junior pitcher Thomas Jankins (West Brookfield, Massachusetts) has been named the College Sports Madness Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Baseball Preseason Pitcher of the Year and senior outfielder Mike Palladino (Rockville Centre, New York) has been named the Preseason Player of the Year, as announced on Tuesday, Jan. 26.
Jankins and Palladino were also named to the College Sports Madness MAAC Preseason First Team in addition to junior shortstop Matthew Batten (Shelton, Connecticut). Pitcher Robert Hitt (Suffield, Connecticut) and catcher Lou Iannotti (North Haven, Connecticut) were named to the College Sports Madness Preseason Second Team.
Last season for the Bobcats, Jankins, Palladino and Batten were all named to the all-MAAC First Team and Jankins was also named to the MAAC All-Tournament team.
As a sophomore, Jankins led the Bobcats rotation with a 6-5 record in a team-high 13 starts. Jankins posted an ERA of 3.20 after allowing just 30 earned runs in 84 1/3 innings for the Bobcats where he struck out 53 batters compared to just 26 walks.
Palladino was one of the top offensive weapons for the Bobcats, picking up a Division I program record 26 stolen bases and finishing second on the team with a .313 batting average. Palladino also hit a team-high 16 doubles, was second on the team with 65 hits and scored 42 runs while finishing second among team qualifiers with a .402 on base percentage.
Batten was right behind Palladino in 2015 with 22 stolen bases, the second most in Quinnipiac baseball's Division I era. He batted .303 with a team-high 67 hits, 37 runs scored, 34 RBIs and 16 walks.
On the College Sports Madness preseason second team, Hitt had a breakout freshman year for the Bobcats as he tied Jankins with six wins, going 6-4 in 21 appearances with five starts and saving two games. Hitt posted a 4.10 ERA, yielding 27 earned runs in 59 1/3 innings pitched with 49 strikeouts compared to just 17 walks. Opponents batted .225 against Hitt in his rookie season.
Iannotti has been the Bobcats' backstop for the past two seasons, batting .279 as a junior with one home run, 11 doubles and 36 RBIs. Iannotti recorded 55 hits with 26 runs scored while walking eight times and swiping nine bases.
The Quinnipiac baseball team opens up the 2016 season with a four-game series at Appalachian State in Boone, North Carolina beginning on Friday, Feb. 26 at 3 P.M.
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