The awards continue to pour in for Salisbury University junior first baseman Mike Celenza as he was recently named the Division III National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) South Region Position Player of the Year.

This is the first time in program history that a Sea Gull baseball player has been awarded this distinguished honor by the NCBWA.

The junior left-handed batter has been a constant threat at the plate as he leads the team in several offensive categories including batting average (.469), slugging percentage (.781), on-base percentage (.576), hits (75), home runs (12), total bases (125) and walks (38). The Gaithersburg, Md., native is second on the team in runs scored (62), RBIs (57) and doubles (12). Defensively, the junior first baseman has been solid as well as he has 372 putouts, 25 assists, one error, with a fielding percentage of .997 in 44 games played.

It has been a season to remember for Celenza as he was named a second-team American Baseball Coaches Association All-American, second-team D3baseball.com All-American and Capital Athletic Conference Player of the Year. He was also named the South Region Player of the Year, made the all-region first team and was a Rawlings Gold Glove South Region selection.

Celenza was one of two first basemen to garner NCBWA Region Position Player of the Year honors as Drew Hedman of Pomona-Pitzer College was named West Region Position Player of the Year. Hedman also was named the 2009 Division III National Position Player of the Year. Noah Solomon of Trinity (Texas) University was named South Region Pitcher of the Year.

This summer Celenza is a member of the Bethesda Big Train in the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League where he was the MVP last season and a two-time all-league selection.

Founded in 1962, the NCBWA is dedicated to the advancement of college baseball. Membership is open to writers, broadcasters and publicists of the sport. For more information about the NCBWA, visit the association's official Web site www.ncbwa.com.