Gaconi was recognized after essentially sweeping top awards on and off the field. The Metairie, Louisiana native was named the Southland Conference and Louisiana Pitcher of the Year, as well as earning Academic All-American and Southland Baseball Student-Athlete of the Year recognition.
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Gaconi finished the year with a 7-3 record and a 2.57 earned run average, holding opponents to a .244 batting average and striking out 95 in 108.2 innings of work. Gaconi's control was his greatest asset, as he only walked 11 batters on the season, ranking among the Division I national leaders in strikeout-to-walk ratio (8.64, 4th) and walks allowed per nine innings (0.91, 5th).
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Gaconi, who graduated in May with a 3.92 cumulative grade point average, was just as impressive off the field. At the inaugural Lion Choice Awards presented by Chick-Fil-A in April, Gaconi was honored as the graduating SLU male student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade point average. He signed a free agent deal with the New York Mets in June.
Gaconi is the 10th baseball student-athlete to earn Male Athlete of the Year accolades. He joins Troy Melancon (1991-92), Jeff Williams (1995-96), Macky Waguespack (1998-99), Steve Trosclair (2000-01), Chris Province (2006-07), Wade Miley (2007-08), Tyler Watkins (2010-11), Brock Hebert (2011-12) and Jameson Fisher (2015-16).
