RICHMOND, Va. – After a stellar regular season, the Monmouth baseball team had six student-athletes earn All-Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) accolades as the league announced its end of the year awards voted on by the head coaches.
 
Second baseman Wyatt Hunt and outfielder Nick Lovarco took home First Team All-CAA honors. Third baseman Simmi Whitehill and reliever Kevin Opanel were Second Team All-CAA selections. First baseman Chris Walsh and reliever Austin Beard received All-CAA Honorable Mention recognition. 
 
The six selections are the most by the Hawks since they joined the CAA and the most since the 2021 team had six while part of the MAAC. Hunt and Lovarco are Monmouth's first First Team All-CAA selections.
 
Hunt, who had a breakout junior season, earns all conference recognition for the second time in his career after being an All-Rookie selection in 2023. He leads the Hawks with a .345 average, Hunt leads the Hawks with 42 RBIs and ranks third with 44 runs scored. He has 21 extra bases, including a team-high 15 doubles. Hunt leads the team with 23 multi-hit games and had the longest hit streak by a Hawk this season at 13 games. Earlier this season he reached base safely in 22 straight games. Hunt ranks Top 10 in the CAA for batting average, hits, doubles and sac bunts.
 
Lovarco earned All-CAA honors for the first time in his career after bringing the power to the Hawks' lineup. The senior is hitting .335 and ranks second on the team with 45 runs scored and fourth with 38 RBIs. He is tied for the team lead with 11 home runs and has two games this season in which he has multiple home runs. Lovarco is hitting .371 in CAA only games with eight home runs. He enters the CAA Tournament on a seven-game hit streak and earlier this year had a streak of reaching base safely in 14 straight games. He ranks among the Top 10 in the CAA for slugging percentage (.590), runs scored and home runs.
 
Whitehill took home All-CAA accolades for the first time in his career. He is hitting .321 with a team-best 43 RBIs and 41 runs scored. He had 17 extra base hits, including the first six home runs of his career. Earlier this season, Whitehill reached base safely in 35 straight games, which is the longest streak by a Hawk in the last 20 years. He enters the CAA Tournament on a five-game hit streak and earlier this year had a 10-game streak. He leads Monmouth with 12 multi-RBI games.
 
Opanel earned All-CAA accolades for the first time in his Monmouth career after shining out of the bullpen all season. The senior has a 5-1 record and two saves in 18 appearances for the Hawks. He went three or more innings in five of his appearances and has registered 26 strikeouts. He was particularly effective against Towson going 1-0-1 and allowing just two runs across eight innings in three appearances.
 
Walsh had a big season for the Hawks at first base to earn All-CAA honors for the first time. The junior is hitting .294 with a team-best 50 runs scored and is one of three Hawks with at least 40 RBIs. He leads the team with 23 extra base hits and is tied for the team lead with 11 home runs. He ranks second on the team with 18 multi-hit games and earlier this year reached base safely in 27 straight games. He ranks Top 10 in the CAA for slugging percentage, runs scored, triples and stolen bases.
 
Beard has given the Hawks a strong option out of the pen to earn All-CAA accolades. He has a 3-3 record with two saves in 40+ innings of work. Beard has been particularly strong in CAA only games where he boasts a 2-1 record with a 2.30 ERA and two saves in 31+ innings of action. In CAA only games, opponents are batting just .189 against Beard. 
 
The Hawks are back in action when take part in the CAA Tournament on Wednesday, May 20. No. 3 Monmouth takes on No. 6 UNCW at 4 p.m. from Brooks Field in Wilmington, N.C.