Gatto Earns CAA Co-Rookie of the Week Award after Dominating UNC Wilmington
April 11, 2011
File Photos Courtesy of Chris Mlynarczyk
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• Full CAA Weekly Report (pdf)
RICHMOND, Va. - - Not wanting to be left behind by his fellow freshman teammates, University of Delaware right-handed pitcher Danny Gatto earned the Colonial Athletic Association Co-Rookie of the Week award on Monday, announced by the conference office.
Gatto (at right) joins EJ Stoltzfus and Chad Kuhl on the list of Delaware (18-14, 10-5 CAA) freshmen that have won the award so far this season. Gatto helped his Blue Hens remain in first place in the CAA with his best pitching performance of the season on Saturday against UNC Wilmington.
The freshman from Dover, Del. made his sixth start of the season on Saturday, and third straight CAA weekend start. It was by far his most successful start against CAA opponents, pitching six innings of shutout baseball. He only allowed four hits while striking out six Seahawks, while only giving up one walk and hitting one batter for a free base.
He was highly efficient in his six innings of work, throwing 60 strikes in 86 pitches thrown. Gatto also threw 72 percent of his first pitch to each batter in the zone for a strike.
Gatto came out of the ball game with a 4-0 lead, but received a no decision as the Blue Hens used a 9th inning home run from DJ Long to pull out the 6-5 victory. The win clinched the weekend series over UNC Wilmington, and allowed the Blue Hens to keep sole possession of first place in the standings. The Blue Hens took two of three from the Seahawks over the weekend.
On the season Gatto is 1-2 in seven appearances with a team low 3.49 earned run average among starters. He has 15 strikeouts in 28.1 innings of work and batters are hitting .261 against the young righty.
Gatto shares the Co-Rookie of the Week award with UNC Wilmington’s William Prince while Old Dominion’s Josh Wright was named the Player of the Week and Northeastern’s Brandon McNelis earned Pitcher of the Week.
Gatto and the rest of the Blue Hens return to action on Tuesday night, as they look to defend their Liberty Bell Classic Championship against Villanova at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
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