May 17, 2017 3 min read

Washington & Jefferson College baseball players Derek Helbing and Riley Groves won the Presidents’ Athletic Conference top individual awards and head coach Jeff Mountain was named the league’s top coach as the all-conference teams were announced Tuesday.

Helbing was named the PAC Player of the Year and Groves the PAC Pitcher of the Year, as voted on by the conference’s coaches, as they helped W&J win the conference’s regular season and postseason tournament championships.

Mountain was named the Coach of the Year for guiding the Presidents to the NCAA Division III Mideast regional. The Presidents play Misericordia in the opening round 10 a.m. Thursday at Ross Memorial Park.

The Presidents had 11 players honored by the conference. Waynesburg had five players named to the all-conference teams.

W&J right Nick Vento, shortstop Nick Gatins and third baseman Frank joined Helbing and Groves on the first team. Presidents first baseman Mark Merlino, second baseman Adam LaRue, center fielder Ryan Sciullo and pitcher Bryce Schnatterly were named to the second team. Pitchers Matt Heslin and Trevor Kerr received honorable mention.

Waynesburg first baseman Jonathon Kletzli was named to the first team for the third time. Yellow Jackets second baseman Tyler Reis also was a first-team selection. Waynesburg catcher was named to thew second team, and outfielder Mitch Nordstrom and pitcher Luke Carter were honorable mention selections.

Thiel pitcher Kevin Forrester, a Canon-McMillan graduate, was named to the second team.

Helbing, a two-time first-team selection, is the first catcher to win Player of the Year since 2000. He is the first Presidents players to take home the league’s top honor since Josh Staniscia in 2014. Through 42 game, Helbing leads the PAC and ranks 21st in NCAA Division III with 51 RBI and has 11 home runs, tied for the most in the conference and 12th in Division III. His total of 43 runs is third-most in the PAC and ranks 12th in Division III. He also drew a PAC-best 25 walks. Helbing has a .342 batting average and .644 slugging percentage.

A two-way player, Helbing has a 3-0 pitching record with four saves and a 0.87 ERA.

Groves was named Pitcher of the Year for the second time. He was co-Pitcher of the Year in 2015 and is a three-time first-team selection. His 1.94 ERA is tops in the PAC. Groves has an 8-2 record with 56 strikeouts in 65 innings. Opponents batted only .207 against Groves. He was the winning pitcher in the title-clinching game of the PAC tournament.

For the seventh time in his 15 seasons at W&J, Mountain was named the Coach of the Year. He led the Presidents to a 21-3 record in league play. Mountain reached the 400-win plateau for his career on April 5.

The Presidents are ranked No. 16 in the D3baseball.com Top 25 poll and No. 23 in the American Baseball Coaches Association Top 30.