MARLBOROUGH, Mass. — Wheaton College (Mass.) baseball player Brayden Lewis (Hopedale, Mass.) was named the New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference Baseball Athlete of the Year, it was announced by the league.
In addition, Lewis was also selected to the NEWMAC All-Conference First Team.
Lewis becomes the eighth Lyon to earn NEWMAC Rookie of the Year honors and the first since Jake Studley '22 was selected in 2019.
Lewis becomes the first Wheaton player to earn All-Conference First Team honors as a rookie since Jake Studley '22 was tabbed as a First Teamer in 2019. The left fielder was one of the most dynamic players in the conference with a rare combination of power and speed that has never been seen in Norton before. The Hopedale Jr.-Sr. High School product led the league with 29 stolen bases without being caught and also hit 10 home runs to rank fourth in the NEWMAC to become the first player in school history to hit at least 10 home runs and steal as many as 29 bases in the same season. He took his play up a notch in conference games, leading the circuit with seven homers, while also topping the league in conference games in runs batted in with 21 and runs scored with 22. Lewis was second with 48 total bases, 11th with four doubles and 10th with 23 hits. He owned a 1.138 OPS in league games for the sixth-highest total, while maintaining a .727 slugging mark for the third-highest figure against league foes and also owned a .348 (23-66) batting average in NEWMAC contests. Overall, the rookie knocked in 36 runs to go with 42 runs scored in all games. Lewis posted a .596 slugging mark in all games and batted .329 (48-146) for the Lyons. The Business Management major produced 87 total bases for the balance of the season to rank seventh in the NEWMAC and drew 19 walks to place 20th among league leaders. Lewis was among the most consistent and reliable hitters in the nation, hitting safely in 31of 37 games, including 14 multi-hit efforts and did not go hitless in consecutive games throughout the season. The start to the first year's career was meteoric, following a hitless performance off just one plate appearance in his first collegiate game, he put together a 17-game hitting streak over a span of 29 days from March 7 to April 4, where he batted .359 (23-64) with 21 RBI, including a grand slam for his first career home run against Vassar College on March 12. The corner outfielder knocked in multiple runs on 10 occasions, including a three-game stretch of two runs batted in each game from March 21-24.
Wheaton finished the season with an overall record of 26-13, including 10-6 in league play to earn the number two seed in the NEWMAC Championship Tournament. The Lyons did not lose consecutive games all season until the final two contests in the conference tournament.
