DiSanti, Varela-Payne Become Consensus All-Atlantic Region

Complete ABCA Release

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Senior infielder Matthew DiSanti and sophomore pitcher Kaden Varela-Payne of the Concord University baseball team have been selected to the American Baseball Coaches' Association (ABCA) All-Atlantic Region Second Team, the organization released Wednesday.

DiSanti and Varela-Payne have been named to three all-region teams this postseason—the ABCA, D2CCA and NCBWA—making them consensus all-region performers.

DiSanti, a native of Wilmington, North Carolina, is pegged to the All-Atlantic Team after hitting a team-best .344. He played and started 46 games at second base. DiSanti had nine extra-base hits (seven doubles, a triple and a home run) and a career-best 33 RBI. For the second straight year, DiSanti had a 50-hit season as he finished the year with 53 hits, second on the team. He paced the Mountain Lions with 19 multi-hit games and added nine multi-RBI games which was second on the squad. DiSanti matched his career high with four hits against Bluefield State February 18, and two days later had a career-best five RBI in a win over Shepherd. He finishes his career at CU top 10 in all-time batting average (.372).

Varela-Payne capped his one and only season in Athens by being the first consensus all-region pitcher since Andrew Neff (2023). Varela-Payne recorded a 4.11 ERA over 87.2 innings on the mound as he struck out a single-season program record 106 batters. Half of the 14 starters for the Raleigh, North Carolina native resulted in complete games. Varela-Payne is tied for fourth nationally in Division II in strikeouts as he became not only the first CU pitcher to top 100 strikeouts, but just the third in the history of the MEC. Varela-Payne set Concord and MEC records for single-game strikeouts with 16 versus Wheeling in the MEC Tournament (May 7). He also rolled up 10 strikeouts in his final regular season start against Glenville State (May 1).

Seton Hill's Brady McGuire was the ABCA Atlantic Region Player of the Year. West Chester ace Julian Costa earned ABCA Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year.