Mendez and Cundari Earn ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Accolades

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Adding to D3Baseball.com All-New York Region honors announced earlier today, St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) seniors Joe Mendez (Staten Island, N.Y./Monsignor Farrell) and Mike Cundari (Staten Island, N.Y/St. Peter's) were also named to the 2014 ABCA/Rawlings All-New York Region Teams – Mendez recognized as a first team outfielder and Cundari as a third team first baseman.

It is the first time either have been recognized by the American Baseball Coaches Association with Paul Piccirillo the only other Bear to be named to an ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Team in 2012. Mendez and Cundari were also named to the same respective D3Baseball.com All-New York Region team earlier today.

Mendez had a monster season for the Bears, setting school records in home runs (11), RBI (50) and slugging percentage (.734) in his final season on campus. The one-time NCBWA Division III Hitter of the Week, D3Baseball.com Team of the Week and USCAA Player of the Week selection also led the team with 12 doubles and had 39 runs scored in 128 at bats.

The USCAA Second Team All-American had a career day at Maritime on March 29th hitting four home runs on the day including a school-record-tying three in game one. The outfielder became the Bears all-time hit leader versus Vaughn on April 18th and finishes his career with a school-record 20 home runs.

Cundari was a steady force for the Bears in the lineup and at first base, starting all 40 games. The senior hit a team-high .375 on the year with 36 runs scored and 34 RBI to his name. The one-time AD3I Player of the Week had ten doubles and ten steals on the year as well. The first baseman was solid defensively committing no errors in 327 chances and became the second Bear in school history to record 100 hits, 100 runs and 100 RBI in a career.