June 18, 2008

Siena College senior third baseman Jacob Willis has been named to the American Baseball Coaches Association Northeast Region Second Team. Willis broke the school's career and single-season hit record in 2008, helping the Saints advance to the MAAC Championship game.

Willis finished his career with 254 career hits and 56 doubles - both new school records. He posted a .342 career batting average which is the sixth highest for any player in school history and the highest by any four-year Saint in the last 20 years.

In 2008, Willis batted .367 with 10 home runs, helping Siena to 21 victories in their final 25 games and a berth in the MAAC title game. He crushed the school's single season record for hits (formerly 69), collecting 80 base hits, including a record 12 in the MAAC Tournament.

Willis finished his career with 140 runs (3rd all-time), 131 RBI (4th all-time), 26 home runs (3rd all-time), 205 games played (4th all-time), 394 total bases (2nd all-time) and a .540 slugging percentage (2nd all-time).

For his efforts, Willis was named MAAC Baseball Player of the Year in 2008 and earned a spot on the CoSIDA First Team Academic All-District Team. He graduated in May with a 3.56 GPA in finance. He was additionally named to the 2008 MAAC First Team, MAAC Academic Team and MAAC Tournament Team.

The ABCA was founded in 1945 and has a membership of over 6,000. The Northeast Region had four players voted to the All American Team for the 2008 season - Pitcher - Eric Beaulac - LeMoyne - 2nd Team; Pitcher - Shane Davis - Canisius - 3rd Team; Outfield - Chris Edmondson - LeMoyne - 3rd Team; Second Base - Kevin Mailloux - Canisius - 3rd Team.