College Baseball Daily continues our countdown to the start of the 2012 College Baseball season by checking in on the Top 100 Players in the country. We will be providing one player per day until we reach number 1.
We continue the countdown today at number 69 with Florida junior shortstop Nolan Fontana. He is from Winter Garden Florida and attended West Orange High School where he played for head coach Jesse Marlo. As a senior, he earned third-team all-state in Class 6A after batting .507 and leading the Warriors to a 22-3 mark and a Regional Final appearance. He was also named All-Area Central Florida by ESPN Rise Magazine, first-team all-district, first-team Central Florida Metro Conference and was named West Orange’s Most Valuable Player.
Nolan continued his baseball career at Florida where he started in 63 games as a freshman. He ended up with a .287 batting average while hitting three homers and driving in 49 runs. He was also solid on the basepaths with 11 stolen bases in 16 attempts. He was fantastic in the 2010 NCAA Tourney hitting .360 with a homer and 3 RBI as he help lead the Gators to the College World Series.
Nolan played the summer of 2010 with the USA Collegiate National Team where he made 17 appearances (15 starts) while hitting .250 with 3 RBI. Baseball America rated him the 13th best prospect on the team.
Fontana continued to be the everyday shortstop for the Gators in 2011 playing in 71 games. He finished the year with a .289 batting average with five homers and driving in 49 runs. Fontana is regarded as one of the top defensive shortstops in the country making 12 errors in 2011 for a fielding percentage of .960. He was named to the All-SEC defensive team for the second straight year.
He had limited time with the USA Collegiate National Team in 2011 playing in five games where he hit .125 with two RBI on the summer.
You can check out the rest of our Top 100 by clicking here.
