CENTRAL ISLIP. N.Y. (Feb. 4, 2016) - On Thursday, LIU Post baseball junior pitcher Jake DeCarli (Higganum, Conn.) was named the East Coast Conference Preseason Pitcher of the Year.

DeCarli, who also garnered National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Preseason All-America second-team recognition, is the reigning ECC Pitcher of the Year. He went 6-1 with a 0.76 earned-run average in 2015. 

His ERA led the ECC and ranked third in Division II, while his win total was good for fourth in the conference. DeCarli was even better in ECC play, finishing with an unblemished 4-0 mark and a 0.79 ERA during the regular season. On the year, he recorded 60 strikeouts and held hitters to a stingy .148 batting average against. Furthermore, DeCarli placed third in Division II with 4.44 hits allowed per nine innings and fourth with a 0.80 WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched). 

Last offseason, DeCarli earned the program's first All-America nod since Joe Mare was an Honorable Mention in 2007. The righty received All-America Honorable Mention praise from both Daktronics and the NCBWA, and landed on the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-East Region Second Team.

In addition, the Higganum native was chosen to the 2015 Daktronics/Division II Conference Commissioners Association and NCBWA All-East Region First Team.

In the ECC Preseason Poll, the Pioneers were voted to finish the regular season third, after making an appearance in the ECC Championship for the first time since 2012.

The top four teams in the final regular-season standings will qualify for the ECC Baseball Championship, which will be held from May 12-14 at Dowling College.

DeCarli and the Pioneers open up the 2016 season in Gaffney, S.C., where they are scheduled to play four games against Limestone College from Feb. 13-14.

2016 ECC Baseball Preseason Poll
1. St. Thomas Aquinas (Five First-Place Votes) - 47 Points
2. Bridgeport - 38 Points
3. LIU Post (Two First-Place Votes) - 37 Points
4. Dowling - 30 Points
5. Queens - 16 Points
6. Molloy - 15 Points
7. Mercy - 12 Points