WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Senior catcher Hank Penders (Wethersfield) and junior first baseman Ian Moser (Bellingham, MA) represent the Eastern Connecticut State University baseball team on the NCAA Division III All-Region II teams sponsored by the ABCA (America Baseball Coaches Association)/Rawlings,  and by D3baseball.com.
 
The left-handed hitting Penders was a repeater to both teams, moving up to the first team this year after being named to the second team as a junior. Moser was named to the D3baseball.com second team this year after being voted to the third team as a sophomore designated hitter.
 
Last week, Penders gained first-team All-Little East Conference recognition for the third straight year while Moser was named to the second team at first base after receiving first-team honors at designated hitter as a sophomore.
 
A total of 45 players were named to one of the three ABCA teams. Penders was among nine players from the Little East voted to the 14-person first team. Moser was among two first basemen named to the 16-player second team along with Brandeis University sophomore Danny Tambascia.
 
A total of 42 players (three teams of 14 players each) were named to the D3baseball.com team, one at each position, plus three starting pitchers and one relief pitcher.
 
As a first-team pick, Penders is eligible for All-America consideration by both the ABCA and D3baseball.com when those teams are announced later this week. Former centerfielder Ray Leonzi was Eastern's 62^nd and most recent ABCA All-America selection when he was a  fourth-teamer two years ago. A total of 13 Eastern players have been featured as All-Americas by D3baseball.com, most recently left-handed starting pitcher Dan Driscoll, a fourth-teamer in 2023
 
Batting in the heart of the Eastern order, Moser (.380) and Penders (.361) ranked 1-2 on the team in batting, as well as in most statistical categories this year. Moser started all 41 games for the 25-15-1 Warriors, collecting team-highs with 100 total bases, 24 extra-base hits, a .704 slugging percentage, 11 home runs, 13 doubles and 59 RBI. He was third on the team with 54 hits and second with 249 putouts.
 
Penders started all 40 games in which he appeared, led the team with four triples, shared the team lead with 57 hits, and was second to Moser in extra-base hits (19), doubles (9), home runs (6) and RBI (39). Defensively, he topped the club with 289 putouts and threw out 37 percent (14 of 38) of baserunners attempting to steal.
 
Twice named LEC Player-of-the-Week, Moser reached safely in the first 38 games of the year and in all but one of 41 during the team and had at least one hit in 33 games, with two ten-game hitting streaks. Among his 12 multi-hit games, he had four-game stretches where he was 12-for-19 with 14 RBI in mid-April and 10-for-14 with nine RBI beginning in late April. Moser finished in the Top 10 in the LEC in eight major categories, among them third in home runs, RBI and slugging and fourth in total bases.  In a 28-8 road win over Johnson & Wales University April 12, Moser was 4-for-7 with six RBI, four runs scored and two home runs. The at-bats in that game were the most in a game by an LEC player this year, with his six RBI and four runs tying for the most by an LEC player in a game. Twice in a game, he homered twice as the only LEC player with as many as two multi-HR games (Penders was the only LEC player to record as many as two HRs in a contest).
 
A third-team D3baseball.com pre-season All-America and this year's only team captain, Penders  reached safely in 35 games and hit safely in 33 during the season, with a team-high 17 multi-hit games. He began the season with an eight-game hitting streak (the first of his two eight-game hitting streaks) and ended his career by hitting in his final seven games, batting .482 (13-for-27) with six RBI in that final stretch. In his final game against NCAA qualifier University of Southern Maine in the LEC tournament, Penders reached in all four of his plate appearances with three hits and a walk. Penders ranked among the LEC Top 10 in five major categories, including third in putouts and chances (321) and third in triples.
 
Penders' and Moser's selections give Eastern  155 ABCA all-region picks since balloting began in 1984 and 31 D3baseball.com selections since the inception of that team in 2012.