NCBWA releases 2015 Preseason All-American Teams

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DALLAS – One of the youngest, but most talented squads, was honored with the announcement of the 15th annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association preseason All-America team Monday. The group features numerous standouts from powers such as defending College World Series champion Vanderbilt, runner-up Virginia and 17 Division I conferences nationwide.

Interestingly, there were no returning position players from the first team of the 18^th annual 2014 NCAA postseason All-America selections, but returning No. 1 crew starting pitchers Blake Fox (12-0 record, 1.46 ERA) of Rice and Casey Bloomquist (12-2, 1.56 ERA) of Cal Poly highlight a solid group of mound standouts returning for 2015 from the All-America ranks.

They are joined by post-2014 second-team stalwarts outfielder DJ Stewart (.351, 7 homers, 50 RBIs) of Florida State and starting pitchers Kyle Funkhouser (13-3, 1.94 ERA) of Louisville, Atlantic Coast Conference 2014 Pitcher of the Year Nathan Kirby (9-3, 2.06) of Virginia and 2014 Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year Preston Morrison (9-4, 1.32 ERA) of TCU on the first unit of the 2015 NCBWA elite squadron.

Also in that set of standouts are starting pitchers Walker Buehler (12-2, 2.64) and Carson Fulmer (7-1, 1.98) of Vanderbilt along with relief aces Riley Ferrell (3-1, 0.79 ERA, 15 saves) of TCU, David Berg (the 2013 NCBWA Stopper of the Year, (3-2, 1.50 ERA, 11 saves) of UCLA, Bryan Garcia (7-4, 1.75 ERA, 15 saves) of Miami (Fla.), and Matt Ditman (5-6, 1.83 ERA, nine saves) of Rice. The entire first team pitching staff consists of underclassmen except for the senior Berg.

Among the first-team position players are such nationally-recognized stalwarts as Florida Gulf Coast 2B Jake Noll (.367, 18 2B, 29 RBI, 25SB), San Diego State 3B Ty France (.356, 18 2B, 5 HR, 45 RBI), Vanderbilt SS Dansby Swanson (.333, 27 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 34 RBI), Michigan utility player Jacob Cronenworth (1.75 ERA, 12 saves, 2 HR, 28 RBI, 19 SB), and FSU’s Stewart dot the roster.

The initial two units also contain starting pitchers with a combined win-loss mark of 115-26 and relief hurlers with a composite 103 saves. The three teams chosen with consultation with individual schools’ media relations offices and the NCBWA All-America committee also boast the likes of 2013 SEC Freshman of the Year and Brooks Wallace Award SS Alex Bregman of LSU, All-Mountain West Conference 1B Austin Byler (.326, 14 2Bs, 14 HR, 54RBIs) of Nevada, All-Big 12 Conference 1B Eric Gutierrez (.302, 18 2B, 12 HR, 58 RBI) of Texas Tech, All-Atlantic Coast Conference OF Joe McCarthy (.301, 16 2B, 6 HR, 49RBI) of Virginia, catchers Zach Collins (.298, 14 2B, 11 HR, 54 RBI) of Miami, Fla., and All-Missouri Valley Conference Paul DeJong (.349, 21 2B, 9 HR, 48 RBI) of Illinois State, and All-Ohio Valley Conference Travis Stout (3-1, 1.82 ERA, 15 saves) of Jacksonville State, among others.

The selections prior to the historic 156th season of intercollegiate baseball will be striving to make the 69^th annual DI World Series in Omaha, Neb., on June 13-23/24, along with the prestigious Dick Howser Trophy presented by the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Chamber of Commerce on Saturday, June 13, at TD Ameritrade Stadium.

2015 NCBWA Division I Preseason All-America Team
FIRST TEAM (Statistics are from 2014 Season)
Pos. Name, School, Class Avg. G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBIs BB SO SB/SBA
C Zack Collins, Miami (Fla.), So. .298 61 205 32 61 14-3-11 54 42 47 0/0
1B Eric Gutierrez, Texas Tech, Jr. .302 66 245 46 74 18-2-12 58 26 27 0/1
2B Jake Noll, Florida Gulf Coast, So. .367 61 275 56 101 18-1-0 29 21 23 25/30
SS Dansby Swanson, Vanderbilt, Jr. .333 72 282 63 94 27-2-3 34 37 49 22/27
3B Ty France, San Diego State, Jr. .356 63 233 55 83 18-0-5 45 28 25 3/4
OF DJ Stewart, Florida State, Jr. .351 53 194 45 68 19-0-7 50 40 30 4/5
OF Bryan Reynolds, Vanderbilt, So. .338 72 281 63 95 24-2-4 54 23 49 14/20
OF Joe McCarthy, Virginia, Jr. .301 69 256 55 77 16-2-6 49 35 34 11/12
OF Casey Jones, Elon, Sr. .418 53 196 42 82 20-4-7 53 36 40 11/14
DH Corbin Olmstead, North Florida, Jr. .358 44 173 39 62 10-1-10 33 13 21 1/1
UT Jacob Cronenworth, Michigan, Jr. .268 60 205 41 55 6-4-2 28 41 34 19/23
1.75 ERA, 2-3, 18 GP, 0 GS, 0 CG, 12 SV, 25.2 IP, 21H, 14R, 5ER, 13BB, 27K

Pos. Name School W-L ERA APP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO B/Avg.
SP Kyle Funkhouser, Louisville, Jr. 13-3 1.94 18 18 0 0/4 0 120.1 85 33 26 65 122 .201
SP Walker Buehler, Vanderbilt, Jr. 12-2 2.64 19 16 2 0/2 0 102.1 85 33 30 31 111 .229
SP Blake Fox, Rice, Jr. 12-0 1.46 15 15 0 0/4 0 104.2 88 17 17 27 69 .236
SP Carson Fulmer, Vanderbilt, Jr. 7-1 1.98 26 10 1 1/3 10 91.0 61 22 20 41 95 .195
SP Nathan Kirby, Virginia, Jr. 9-3 2.06 18 18 1 1/2 0 113.1 68 34 26 33 112 .175
SP Casey Bloomquist, Cal Poly, Jr. 12-2 1.56 16 14 2 1/1 1 98.0 87 21 17 20 74 .243
RP Riley Ferrell, TCU, Jr. 3-1 0.79 31 0 0 0/5 15 45.1 20 5 4 14 70 .132
RP David Berg, UCLA, Sr. 3-2 1.50 31 0 0 0/4 11 48.0 34 10 8 8 35 .202
RP Bryan Garcia, Miami, So. 7-4 1.75 31 0 0 0/1 15 51.1 40 12 10 19 56 .220
RP Matt Ditman, Rice, Jr. 5-6 1.83 26 2 0 0/3 9 68.2 50 16 14 12 77 .198

SECOND TEAM
Pos. Name, School, Class Avg. G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBIs BB SO SB/SBA
C Paul DeJong, Illinois State, Jr. .349 54 218 44 76 21-3-9 48 22 39 2/5
1B Austin Byler, Nevada, Sr. .326 57 221 51 72 14-5-14 47 25 48 7/11
2B Mark Mathias, Cal Poly, Jr. .386 58 210 48 81 14-1-2 39 23 18 12/16
SS Blake Trahan, UL-Lafayette, Jr. .355 68 256 58 91 12-2-4 49 44 37 15/27
3B Andrew Knizner, NC State, So. .330 52 209 34 69 11-1-4 47 4 21 0/0
OF Brandon Rawe, Morehead State, Sr. .390 57 251 50 98 21-0-10 48 19 27 5/7
OF Kyle Survance, Houston, Jr. .308 65 253 53 78 11-2-2 32 35 44 31/38
OF Alex Liquori, Kennesaw State, Jr. .354 51 178 37 63 13-5-1 42 18 40 7/11
OF Jeff Hendrix, Oregon State, Jr. .351 46 171 42 60 11-5-2 32 19 35 4/5
DH Blaise Salter, Michigan State, Sr. .317 57 221 34 70 22-0-5 50 17 27 0/2
UT Curtis Jones, Houston Baptist, Sr. .361 51 227 33 82 5-0-0 22 7 16 6/8
4-5, 3.64ERA, 13APP, 13GS, 2CG, 0SV, 89.0IP, 92H, 44R, 36ER, 21BB, 42K

Pos. Name School W-L ERA APP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO B/Avg.
SP Brandon Waddell, Virginia, Jr. 10-3 2.45 18 18 2 0/2 0 114.0 98 35 31 19 73 .236
SP Tyler Davis, Washington, Sr. 11-2 1.60 17 15 1 1/2 1 106.2 88 22 19 15 62 .232
SP Thomas Eshelman, Cal State Fullerton, Jr. 8-3 1.89 16 16 5 2/0 0 123.2 100 32 26 8 99 .222
SP Preston Morrison, TCU, Sr. 9-4 1.32 18 18 5 3/2 0 129.2 90 25 19 21 95 .197
SP Cole Irvin, Oregon, So. 12-3 2.48 16 16 4 2/0 0 116.0 105 37 32 22 60 .248
RP Sam Moore, UC Irvine 0-3 1.85 32 0 0 0/3 23 43.2 35 10 9 11 39 .220
RP Reilly Hovis, North Carolina, Jr. 9-1 2.25 34 1 0 0/1 6 64.0 44 16 16 24 81 .194
RP Brandon Koch, Dallas Baptist, Jr. 8-1 0.64 28 0 0 0/3 9 42.1 25 3 3 22 70 .176
RP Travis Stout, Jacksonville State, Sr. 3-1 1.82 27 0 0 0/1 15 39.2 26 8 8 18 29 .194

THIRD TEAM (ties in voting)
Pos. Name, School, Class Avg. G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBIs BB SO SB/SBA
C John Clay Reeves, Rice, Sr. .317 58 221 32 70 7-1-6 41 17 32 1/2
1B Sikes Orvis, Mississippi, Sr. .294 69 235 40 69 14-1-14 53 37 78 1/1
2B Brad Strong, Western Carolina, Sr. .339 55 239 58 81 20-6-6 53 19 41 20/25
SS Alex Bregman, LSU, Jr. .316 63 244 35 77 16-0-6 47 27 21 12/18
Dylan Bosheers, Tennessee Tech, Sr. .368 59 234 66 86 14-1-11 56 27 32 8/12
3B Connor Panas, Canisius, Sr. .362 53 188 38 68 16-3-6 51 26 36 16/19
OF Ian Happ, Cincinnati, Jr. .322 51 171 32 55 13-1-5 27 32 35 19/24
OF Steven Duggar, Clemson, Jr. .294 61 238 45 70 11-3-1 36 27 51 25/28
OF Tate Matheny, Missouri State, Jr. .330 54 218 42 72 9-2-10 37 25 19 7/11
DH Paschal Petrongolo, Jacksonville St., Jr..328 60 232 38 76 19-7-5 54 23 64 0/1
UT Bobby Dalbec, Arizona, So. .266 47 169 22 45 9-0-2 30 18 48 1/3
3-5, 2.13ERA, 22APP, 0GS, 2CG, 38.0IP, 35H, 12R, 9ER, 10BB, 24K

Pos. Name School W-L ERA APP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO B/Avg.
SP Christian Trent, Mississippi, Jr. 9-0 2.05 17 17 1 1/0 0 110.0 95 28 25 20 86 .233
SP James Kaprielian, UCLA, Jr. 7-6 2.29 15 15 1 0/3 0 106.0 76 29 27 35 108 .201
SP Mike Murray, Florida Gulf Coast, Jr. 13-1 1.85 15 15 2 1/2 0 107.0 92 30 22 14 79 .229
SP Taylor Clarke, Coll. of Charleston, Jr. 10-4 2.51 18 17 1 0/2 0 104.0 81 33 29 31 92 .216
SP Tyler Alexander, TCU, So. 10-3 2.36 20 16 2 0/2 0 99.0 88 29 26 11 59 .239
RP Skylar Hunter, The Citadel, Jr. 2-4 1.67 29 0 0 0/1 15 43.0 22 8 8 23 44 .152
RP Andres Gracia, Samford, Sr. 2-1 0.79 30 0 0 0/1 14 34.0 26 7 3 12 38 .211
RP Hayden Stone, Vanderbilt, So. 4-0 1.71 23 0 0 0/3 3 58.0 41 16 11 14 80 .197
RP Tyler Jay, Illinois, Jr. 4-1 1.94 23 0 0 0/2 10 41.2 28 9 9 13 47 .190