conti named player of the year

Junior Christian Conti of the Muhlenberg baseball team was voted Centennial

Conti entered the week first in Division III in triples.

Conference player of the year – not bad for someone in his first full year as a position player.

The outfielder joins Joshua Carter (2002) as the only Mules to be named CC player of the year in baseball.

A unanimous selection to the first team, Conti was one of three Muhlenberg players to earn All-CC honors. Sophomore pitcher Phil Cresta, the CC leader with eight wins (six in CC games), was named to the second team, and sophomore second baseman Eric Pomroy, who ranks fifth in the league with 38 runs scored, received honorable mention.

Conti began the 2007 season as a pitcher, but arm

Pomroy throws to first to try to complete a double play in the fifth.

troubles steered him in the direction of the batting cage. He cracked the starting lineup a third of the way into the schedule and wound up hitting a respectable .321.

This year, he has taken off, setting school records for runs scored (47), triples (11), home runs (10), RBI (58), extra-base hits (28) and total bases (110) in a season. Conti leads the CC in all those categories, except runs, to go along with a .378 batting average and .815 slugging percentage.

Conti’s production has helped the Mules (20-18) qualify for the CC playoffs after tying for eighth place last year. Muhlenberg will open the playoffs at Johns Hopkins on Friday.

In the Mules’ last regular-season game, Conti displayed that he can contribute with his legs and arm as well as his bat, although Muhlenberg lost to DeSales, 16-6.

The game was played at Coca-Cola Park, the home of the AAA Lehigh Valley IronPigs. With conference playoffs just two days away, the teams used the game as an opportunity to keep their pitchers fresh. Each squad sent seven pitchers to the mound, and none threw more than two innings.

Muhlenberg took a 4-2 lead in the top of the third, an inning that featured an RBI single and straight steal of home by Conti.

DeSales scored two in the bottom of the third and went ahead for good with three in the fifth. The game was close (7-5) before the Bulldogs (21-18-1) blew it open with five in the seventh and four in the eighth. Conti threw out a runner trying to stretch a single into a double from right field in the eighth.

Freshman Bobby Spindler went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and junior John Kalis hit his sixth triple of the season.
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