Baseball | May 26, 2021

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – Head Coach David Miller was named Coach of the Year as the La Salle University baseball team collected nine year-end awards from the Atlantic 10 Conference, it was announced by the league office on Wednesday.

The Explorers had six individuals honored in total, the most since La Salle joined the A-10 back in 1996. Graduate student Ryan Guckin was named to the All-Conference First Team at first base as well as getting second team honors at designated hitter. Junior Tatem Levins landed on the All-Conference Second Team at catcher and was joined by freshman starting pitcher Frank Elissalt and redshirt freshman relief pitcher Colin Yablonski on the second team. Elissalt, Yablonski and sophomore shortstop Connor Coolahan were also named to the All-Rookie Team.

Miller becomes the third Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in program history, joining Larry Conti (1999) and Mike Lake (2010). In just his third full season at the helm (fourth including the shortened 2020 season), Miller led the Explorers to a school-record 32 wins. That mark had previously been held by the 1985 team and stood for 36 years. He also guided La Salle to a 15-9 record in the A-10, which is tied with the 2013 team for most conference wins in program history. The native Philadelphian took over the program during the summer of 2017, just months after the team finished only 10-41 overall. In only his second season, Miller got La Salle up to 25 wins before the record-breaking 32-21 campaign this year.

Guckin becomes the 10th A-10 first team selection in the program and first since 2015. The first baseman put together one of the best individual seasons the program has seen as one of the top extra-base hitters in the country. He tied the school record with seven triples this season, which ranked second in the nation and led the A-10. Guckin also led the league with 19 doubles, good for 12th in the country and fourth in program history. The A-10 hits leader with 68, Guckin hit .345 overall (.348 in A-10 play) with five home runs and was top-10 in the league for RBI (51), slugging percentage (.589), runs (42) and total bases (116). He finished his career fourth in the program in single-season total bases, fifth in career doubles (47), ninth in single-season RBI and ninth in career RBI (123).

Levins picks up his third career A-10 end-of-year honor after earning Rookie of the Year and All-Rookie status in 2019. A two-time A-10 Player of the Week this season, Levins ranked in the top 10 in the conference for runs (49), hits (62), RBI (50) and doubles (14). The catcher batted .342 in conference play and started in all 53 games this season, hitting .315 overall with a team-high seven homers. Levins led the team with 20 multi-hit games and posted a .416 on-base percentage, a .503 slugging percentage and a .985 fielding percentage. The former Freshman All-American finished the year tied for ninth in single-season program history for runs and tied for 10th in RBI.

Elissalt looked like a seasoned veteran on the mound this season as a true freshman. A four-time A-10 Rookie of the Week selection this season, he also picked up A-10 Pitcher of the Week honors once. The right-hander finished second in program history with 95 strikeouts this season, which ranked second in the conference. Elissalt was also sixth or better in the league for every major category, including innings pitched (76.1), wins (6), opponent batting average (.205) and ERA (3.42). The rookie had 10 or more strikeouts on five different occasions and tossed two complete games along with one shutout.

After missing the 2020 season due to injury, Yablonski quickly became the team's top reliever as a redshirt freshman this year. He did most of his damage against conference opponents with an incredible 0.53 ERA and 0.82 WHIP over nine A-10 appearances. In A-10 play, Yablonski held opposing hitters to a .138 batting average and went 2-1 with one save, one combined shutout and 22 strikeouts over 17.0 innings of relief. Overall, the right-hander had 56 strikeouts over 35.2 innings and recorded two saves.

In just his first full season with the team after the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, Coolahan became an everyday player as the starting shortstop in 49 games. Coolahan was eighth in the A-10 this season with 30 walks and ninth in runs scored with 40. He batted .297 on the season with a .430 on-base percentage, eight doubles and 21 RBIs.