Frostburg State athletes earn postseason recognition
May 23—FROSTBURG — It's awards season for the spring sports, and Frostburg State is no exception.
The Bobcats had several athletes across multiple sports earn All-American, all-conference and all-star selections.
USA Lacrosse Magazine named men's lacrosse graduates Bubba Love and Chase Buckwalter third-team All-Americans.
Love scored 49 goals with 35 assists and his 84 points were second most in Frostburg history and his assists tied for third-most for the Bobcats.
He's now tied for the most goals (131) and points (222) in school history, sharing the goals mark with Spencer Love and points with Devin Colegrove.
Bubba Love was named this year's East Coast Conference Offensive Player of the Year, also earning first-team All-ECC honors.
Buckwalter tied Love with 49 goals, also tying Love for the second-most in a season by a Bobcat.
Buckwalter added 18 assists and his 67 points are the seventh-most for a single season in school history.
Buckwalter was also named a first-team All-ECC selection.
Along with Love and Buckwalter, three other teammates were named to the USILA (United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association) All-Region teams.
Love and Buckwalter were second-team selections along with midfielder Luke McCullough.
Seamus Kearney was a third-team choice and Alex Walstrum earned an honorable mention nod.
McCullough was a first-team All-ECC selection, causing 18 turnovers and picking up 43 ground balls.
McCullough was also chosen for the USILA men's lacrosse senior All-Star Game.
He will played for the North team in the Division I and Division II game on Friday at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Kearney was also a first-team All-ECC recipient.
He became the second Bobcat to reach 100 career caused turnovers, forcing 31 this season with 46 ground balls.
Walstrum was a second-team All-ECC choice, going 118 of 192 (64.8%) on faceoffs, the third-highest mark in school history.
He led Frostburg with 70 ground balls.
In women's lacrosse, Neila Haney was named a IWLCA (Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association) second-team All-Midwest Region selection.
It's her second straight selection after earning back-to-back Mountain East Conference Offensive Player of the Year and first-team All-MEC selections.
The attacker led Frostburg in goals (55), assists (28), points (83) and draw controls (67), leading the team in each category for the second year in a row.
She led the MEC in points and was second in goals and assists.
Haney led the Bobcats to back-to-back MEC regular season and tournament championships.
Frostburg went undefeated in the MEC for the first time in program history.
Her teammate Maura O'Neill was selected for the IWLCA senior All-Star game.
O'Neill will compete in the Division II All-Star Game at the USA Lacrosse headquarters on Saturday, June 1, in Sparks.
In her final season, O'Neill was the MEC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-MEC selection.
She forced 35 caused turnovers and picked up 34 ground balls, also scoring 17 goals and adding 18 assists.
In baseball, four Bobcats were named to the NCBWA (National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association) second-team All-Atlantic Region.
Ethan Kiple, Randy Steen, Mikey Guy and Patrick Bauer represented Frostburg.
Kiple was the MEC Player of the Year and first-team All-MEC.
The first baseman led the Bobcats and the MEC with 56 runs with a .380 batting average.
He recorded 65 hits with 17 doubles. Kiple led the Bobcats with 16 home runs and 57 RBIs.
He was also a second-team All-MEC selection as a reliever, making 14 appearances and throwing 18 innings.
He struck out 20 and earned five saves with one win.
Steen hit .373 in center field with a team-high 66 hits.
He had 11 doubles, three triples, five home runs and 42 RBIs.
He was also a first-team All-MEC selection.
Guy earned a spot on the All-MEC Second Team after leading Frostburg with a .389 batting average, recording 65 hits, 13 doubles, seven home runs and 42 RBIs.
Bauer held the second-best ERA in Division II at 1.79, leading the MEC.
He threw 50 1/3 innings and held opponents to a .188 batting average. He also struck out a team-high 51 and finished with a 6-2 record.
Rounding out the recent recognitions was the men's track and field team.
The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) named four Bobcats to the outdoor all-region teams.
Nate Mesy, Marquise Burks, Tom McCoy and Nate Shields all repeated from their indoor all-region honors.
Mesy set a program record in the 400M, running a 47.80, fifth-best in the region.
McCoy had the third-best pole vault in the Atlantic at 5.01 meters.
Burks scored 6,284 points in the decathlon, fourth-best in the region.
Shields had a leap of 7.32m in the long jump at the Hopkins/Loyola Invite, the third-best in school history and fourth-best this season in the Atlantic.
