Zach Soulier pitches in Walsh All-Star Game

Stonehill College senior lefthander Zack Soulier out of Jonathan Law and junior right-hander Armand Rugel combined to pitch an inning of relief in the 40th annual New England Intercollegiate Baseball Association Joe Walsh All-Star Game on June 1, at LeLacheur Park in Lowell, Mass.
The University Division All-Stars, comprised of New England’s top Division I talent, defeated the College Division All-Stars, made up of the region’s top Division II and III players, by an 8-7 score.
Soulier, a second team All-Northeast-10 Conference and American Baseball Coaches Association All-East Region selection, entered the contest in the top of the eighth inning with the College Division All-Stars trailing, 6-5.
Soulier was able to strike out the first batter he faced, pinch-hitter Matt Mottola of the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The senior southpaw then gave up consecutive hits, a solo home run by Sacred Heart University’s Zack Short followed by a single off the bat of Ryan Lukach, a redshirt junior from the University of Hartford.
Soulier, who went 9-2 with a 2.13 ERA in 2014, wrapped up his first NEIBA All-Star Game appearance by getting Vincent Guglietti, a freshman from Quinnipiac University, to fly out to right field for the second out of the inning.
Rugel took the ball from Soulier to face Mike Geannelis, the Atlantic-10 Rookie of the Year from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Rugel, who ranked third on Stonehill with 37 punchouts this season, was able to strike Geannelis out swinging to end the inning. Like Soulier, Rugel was also named to the NE-10 All-Conference and ABCA All-East Region second teams.
Stonehill was represented at the NEIBA All-Star Game for the seventh time in the past 10 seasons.
Stonehill (30-20, 17-10 NE-10) finished third in the NE-10 Northeast Division after going 13-8 in divisional play during the 2014 regular season.
The Skyhawks reached the 30-win mark for the fourth time in five years, and earned a berth in the NE-10 Championship for the 13th time in head coach Pat Boen’s 17-year tenure.