Senior pitcher Jon Dupski (Centennial H.S./Ellicott City, Md.) and senior outfielder Brian Conley (Quince Orchard H.S./Gaithersburg, Md.) of the Towson University baseball team have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America ? District 2 team as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
Dupski and Conley were joined on the District 2 All-Academic team by pitcher Matthew Wilson of Bucknell, catcher Derek Mechling of Duquesne, infielder Steve Gable of Pennsylvania, infielder Mark Angelo of Bucknell, infielder Kyle Higgins of Monmouth, infielder Dennis Alexander of St. Peter?s, outfielder Brian Ernst of Penn State, outfielder Matt Maher of Fairleigh-Dickinson and designated hitter Jason Buursma of Bucknell.
All 11 players are candidates for the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America ? Baseball team which will be announced on May 27.
Towson and Bucknell were the only schools to place more than one player on the District 2 All-Academic team. Bucknell had three players on the team while the Tigers had a pair.
This marks the second year in a row that Towson has placed a pair of student-athletes on the District 2 team. Last year, catcher Ryan Schreiter, ?07 and Dupski were honored. Schreiter went on to earn third team Academic All-America ? honors.
A repeat selection on the District 2 team, Dupski is a lefthanded pitcher who has a double major of Secondary Education and Mathematics with a 3.91 grade point average. During his career, he has been one of the Tigers? most reliable pitchers, appearing in 69 games as a starter and relief pitcher. With 69 appearances, he is just one shy of tying the school record of 70 career appearances.
In 195 innings of work, he has an 11-13 record with a 5.82 E.R.A. He has walked 57 batters and has 121 strikeouts. With seven saves in his career, he ranks among Towson?s all-time leaders.
As a junior, he led the Tigers with a 4-3 record, a 4.23 E.R.A. and three saves. In the 2008 season, he got off to a slow start and now has a 4-6 record with four saves in 21 appearances. Over his last eight appearances, he is 4-0 with one save and a 3.72 E.R.A.
A Finance major with a 3.31 G.P.A., Conley is a three-year starter in the Tiger outfield. The Tigers? third-leading hitter, he is batting .351 with ten home runs and 55 runs batted in. With 55 RBI?s, he ranks fourth in the Colonial Athletic Association. He has scored 45 runs with 15 doubles and has a .442 on-base percentage. In mid-April, he was honored as the CAA Player of the Week.
One of the top offensive players in Towson baseball history, Conley has a career batting average of .317. He enters the final weekend of the regular season with 199 career base hits and 146 runs scored. He has 33 doubles and five triples in his career while he ranks third on the Tigers? career home run list with 34. He also ranks among Towson?s career leaders with 143 runs batted in.
He should become the tenth player in Tiger baseball history with 200 career base hits.
Now 26-25 on the season, the Tigers close out the regular season this weekend with a three-game series against Georgia State University. With a 12-15 record in the CAA, the Tigers could clinch a CAA Tournament berth this weekend.
