Celenza named to the ABCA All-South Region team for third time in career

MT. PLEASANT, Mich. – The American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) released its Division III All-South Region teams and Salisbury University senior first baseman Mike Celenza (Gaithersburg, Md.) was named to the third team.

Celenza's All-South Region award now brings the SU program total to 42. Salisbury head coach Doug Fleetwood has coached 31 of the 42 since he took over the program at his Alma Mater in 2001.

This marks the third straight year that Celenza has been named to the All-Region team, as he was a second-team honoree in 2008 and a first-team member in '09. This season the Gaithersburg, Md., native played and started in all 43 games for the Sea Gulls. Celenza led the team in several offensive categories including: batting average (.378), doubles (10), runs batted in (48), total bases (87), slugging percentage (.588), walks (40) and on-base percentage (.518). The first baseman finished tied for the team lead in home runs with seven along with junior infielder Brian Green (Salisbury, Md.). Defensively, Celenza was just as good as he registered 389 putouts, 15 assists and had just three errors for a .993 fielding percentage.

After playing four seasons at Salisbury, Celenza now owns the program records for career hits (251), doubles (51), runs batted in (212), total bases (403) and walks (123). In his four years, he started 174 out of 175 games and posted a career batting average of .395.  

There were some familiar faces on the All-South Region teams as three CAC institutions were represented. York (Pa.) College pitcher Jason Christenberry was named South Region Pitcher of the Year and was named to the first team. University of Mary Washington's Will Wright was also on the first team, while Rick Shumway of York and Kevin Murphy of Wesley College were on the second team. Grant Morlock of Wesley, Mike Connoly of York and Eric Rehbein of Mary Washington joined Celenza on the third team.