North Adams, Mass. — The Upper Valley Nighthawks capped their inaugural season in the New England Collegiate Baseball League with the inclusion of two players on the all-league team announced last week. Outfielder Joe Denison landed on the first team, and relief pitcher Nick Jones earned a spot on the second unit.

Entering his senior season at Alabama’s Troy University, Denison was Upper Valley’s most consistent offensive source and something of an ironman all summer and spent the entire NECBL season hovering near the top of the league’s batting charts. The 6-foot, 190-pound right-hander played in all 46 of the Nighthawks’ regular-season games and ended up third in the NECBL in batting with a .356 average and also ranked first in hits (63), second in runs batted in (37) and shared fourth in doubles (14). Denison also represented the Nighthawks at the NECBL All-Star Game in July.

Jones, a submarining senior-to-be at Kansas State, became an invaluable part of the Nighthawks’ bullpen. The right-hander appeared in 23 games, second-most in the league, and threw 30 innings, third-most among pitchers without a start. Jones’ summer peaked with a five-inning effort in a 6-3 win at Vermont on July 26 that kept Upper Valley rolling toward an eventual playoff spot.

Upper Valley went 21-25 in its first campaign, winning three elimination games over two days to make the postseason. The Nighthawks stretched eventual league runner-up Sanford to three games in its Northern Division series before their season ended.