June 28, 2007

UNIVERSITY OF RICHMOND, Va. - The honors continued to roll in this week for Richmond baseball players Joe Mahoney and Matt Zielinski. A junior first baseman, Mahoney was named to the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID) All-State First Team, while Zielinski, a left-handed pitcher, was honored as a Freshman All-American by Ping Baseball.

Mahoney, who was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the sixth round of the 2007 First-Year Players Draft, signed a minor league contract and is now playing for the Aberdeen IronBirds in the New York-Penn League (Class A). The native of Troy, N.Y. was named Second Team All-Atlantic 10 at first base and led the conference with 17 home runs, while finishing third with 62 RBIs. The junior slugged .593 overall, .587 in conference play, and swiped a career-high 16 bases in 19 attempts. He was the only Spider on the VaSID All-State Team.

After seven games in the IronBirds' lineup, Mahoney is batting .231 with a homer, a triple and four RBI. Aberdeen is 4-5 on the young season.

Zielinski, the first-ever Spider to be named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, led the Spiders with a 3.30 earned run average and finished second on the staff in wins (six) and strikeouts (70). He made 14 starts, tossed 90 innings and one complete game.

The Southampton, Pa. native is a two-time A-10 Rookie of the Week selection and boasted a 12-inning scoreless streak toward the end of the season. He fanned a career-best 10 in seven shutout innings to beat George Washington and went seven more shutout innings with four hits and four K's to beat Saint Joseph's. His first career complete game came at Massachusetts, where he surrendered just one earned run in a 3-1 Richmond triumph.

The rookie was also tabbed to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America Team.