St. Michael’s College baseball freshmen Evan Balian (Lynnfield, Mass./Lynnfield) and Terence Moynihan (Stoneham, Mass./St. Mary’s) were both named to the Northeast-10 Conference All-Rookie Team, the league office announced on Wednesday. Balian and Moynihan were two of 19 selections from around the league, as 13 Purple Knights have now been recognized in the past 11 years.
Balian batted in the heart of the order as one the Purple Knights’ regular catchers this season, with 32 of his 33 starts coming between No. 3 and 5 in the lineup — including 26 hitting in the cleanup spot. He finished with a .279 batting average with 11 runs, nine RBI, five doubles, seven walks and three hit-by-pitches. While also seeing time as a designated hitter, Balian fielded .971 behind the plate — with only four errors on 140 chances.
Balian turned in eight multi-hit games, including a trio of three-hit outings — among them a 3-for-5 effort with two runs and an RBI against St. Anselm College on April 24 in the second game of a doubleheader. He went 2-for-3 with one RBI at No. 14 Southern New Hampshire University on April 16 while batting .500 (6-for-12) in the Purple Knights’ four-game season series with Bentley University.
Moynihan was also a mainstay in the lineup, starting all 36 of his appearances and batting second or third in 35 of those contests. He started the year at second base before moving to shortstop for the final 30 games. Moynihan hit .291with 19 runs, five doubles, three triples, a team-high 19 RBI and nine walks — batting .441 with runners in scoring position. He led the team with 12 multi-hit games and five multi-RBI outings, and he hit .440 during his final 13 games. Moynihan finished the year with 39 hits, coming within five of the school’s rookie mark.
Moynihan had two runs, two RBI and two doubles during a sweep of Stonehill College on April 3 before picking up a hit in each game of the four-game season series with Bentley and regionally-ranked Assumption University. Moynihan went 7-for-11 in the final three games against Saint Anselm and closed out the season by hitting 4-for-5 with a run and two RBI versus regionally-ranked Franklin Pierce University on May 7.