DALLAS – The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association 19th annual Division I All-America baseball squads (first, second and third teams) again features a cavalcade of the nation’s elite players in 2014.
The balance in the talent on each of these three teams again indicates the close competition among 302 DI schools for the coveted eight places in the June 14-25 NCAA World Series starting Saturday at TD Ameritrade Park.
In fact, the All-America team is represented by 39 different teams and 17 conferences. There are 23 Division I circuit players or pitchers of the year on the three units, and 10 standouts who led their teams to NCAA Super Regionals and/or the ’14 NCAA World Series.
Some of the more notable names among the group are Kentucky P-DH-1B A.J. Reed, who leads the nation with 23 home runs, added 70 RBIs, had a 12-2 pitching record, and was among the Southeastern Conference leaders in as many as nine statistical categories. He is a finalist for the 2014 Dick Howser Trophy as the NCAA Division I player of the year.
Fellow finalists Oregon State outfielder Michael Conforto (.345 average, seven home runs, 56 RBIs), LSU pitcher Aaron Nola (11-1 record, 1.47 earned run average, 134 strikeouts in 116-plus innings pitched), Kennesaw State catcher Max Pentecost (led all DI catchers in batting average at .418 and helped KSU advance to its first Super Regional), and Oregon State pitcher Ben Wetzler (12-1, 0.78 ERA, 78 strikeouts) were the top vote recipients in the last of two ballots cast by the NCBWA membership.
Some of the other stars from the first unit are Tennessee Tech OF Brandon Thomasson (22 homers), North Florida OF Drew Weeks (A-A and NCAA topping .430 batting average, Pentecost is second nationally in BA), and fellow starting pitchers Blake Fox (12-0) of Rice, Casey Bloomquist (12-2) of Cal Poly and Jace Fry (11-2), among others.
The five starting hurlers on the first squad were a combined 58-6, while the three relief aces, all candidates for Saturday’s NCBWA Stopper of the Year, registered a composite 60 saves. Louisville’s Nick Burdi and UC Irvine’s Sam Moore from this group pitched their respective teams to 2014 CWS berths.
The 2014 All-America team announcement precedes the presentation of the 28th annual Dick Howser Trophy at a national news conference Saturday at 10 a.m. (CDT) at TD Ameritrade Park. The NCBWA also will denote the 2014 DI Coach of the Year and the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Awards at this conference and will honor longtime NCAA championships administrator and Di Baseball World Series media coordinator J.D. Hamilton with the coveted Wilbur Snypp Award for contributions to college baseball.
The winner’s name is inscribed on the permanent trophy, a bronze bust of Howser permanently displayed at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, home of the 2008 American League champion, Tampa Bay Rays. Both the winner and his school receive a special trophy for keepsakes.
NCBWA membership includes writers, broadcasters and publicists. Designed to promote and publicize college baseball, it is the sport’s only college media-related organization, founded in 1962.
The Howser Trophy was created in 1987, shortly after Howser’s death. Previous winners of the Howser Trophy are Mike Fiore, Miami, 1987; Robin Ventura, Oklahoma State, 1988; Scott Bryant, Texas, 1989; Alex Fernandez, Miami-Dade Community College South, 1990; Frank Rodriguez, Howard College (Texas), 1991; Brooks Kieschnick, Texas, 1992 and 1993; Jason Varitek, Georgia Tech, 1994; Todd Helton, Tennessee, 1995; Kris Benson, Clemson, 1996; J.D. Drew, Florida State, 1997; Eddy Furniss, LSU, 1998; Jason Jennings, Baylor, 1999; Mark Teixeira, Georgia Tech, 2000; Mark Prior, Southern California, 2001; Khalil Greene, Clemson, 2002; Rickey Weeks, Southern, 2003; Jered Weaver, Long Beach State, 2004; Alex Gordon, Nebraska, 2005; Brad Lincoln, Houston, 2006; David Price, Vanderbilt, 2007; Buster Posey, Florida State, 2008; Stephen Strasburg, San Diego State, 2009; Anthony Rendon, Rice, 2010, Taylor Jungmann, Texas, 2011, Mike Zunino, Florida, 2012 and Kris Bryant, San Diego, 2013.
FIRST TEAM (Statistics Through June 11)
Pos. Name, School, Class Avg. G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBIs BB SO SB/SBA
*C Max Pentecost, Kennesaw State, Jr. .418 63 263 59 110 23-2-9 58 30 26 17/19
*1B Casey Gillaspie, Wichita State, Jr. .389 59 211 50 82 15-1-15 50 58 28 8/8
*2B Jace Conrad, UL Lafayette, Jr. .364 68 264 63 96 20-3-9 65 18 27 22/26
3B Daniel Miles, Tennessee Tech, Sr. .380 58 237 67 90 17-1-11 54 39 21 5/7
SS Trea Turner, NC State, Jr. .321 54 215 65 69 12-3-8 36 37 25 26/30
*OF Michael Conforto, Oregon State, Jr. .345 59 203 52 70 16-2-7 56 55 38 4/8
*OF Michael Katz, William & Mary, Jr. .363 56 240 64 87 24-1-14 75 32 43 0/1
OF Brandon Thomasson, Tenn. Tech, Sr. .336 58 244 60 82 20-4-22 76 22 45 2/3
OF Drew Weeks, North Florida, Jr. .430 53 221 52 95 13-4-6 38 18 20 10/14
DH Derek Gibson, Southeast Mo. St, Sr. .403 57 226 42 91 12-4-6 70 16 19 9/10
*UT A.J. Reed, Kentucky, Jr. .336 62 223 60 75 18-1-23 73 49 48 0/1
12-2, 2.09 ERA, 16 APP, 16GS, 1CG, 0/1SHO, 112.0IP, 98H, 39R, 26ER, 29BB, 71K, .236 OPP BA
Pos. Name School W-L ERA APP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO OPP BA
^SP Aaron Nola, LSU, Jr. 11-1 1.47 16 16 2 1/6 0 116.1 69 19 19 27 134 .172
SP Ben Wetzler, Oregon State, Sr. 12-1 0.78 14 13 4 2/2 0 104.0 49 12 9 31 83 .143
SP Blake Fox, Rice, So. 12-0 1.46 15 15 0 0/4 0 104.2 88 17 17 27 69 .236
SP Casey Bloomquist, Cal Poly, So. 12-2 1.56 16 14 2 1/1 1 98.0 87 21 17 20 74 .243
^SP Jace Fry, Oregon State, Jr. 11-2 1.80 16 16 4 4/1 0 120.1 83 29 24 39 98 .196
RP Brendan McCurry, Oklahoma State, Sr. 5-0 0.38 35 0 0 0/3 19 47.1 29 2 2 8 54 .178
RP Nick Burdi, Louisville, Jr. 3-1 0.51 30 0 0 0/3 18 35.1 17 4 2 10 62 .133
RP Sam Moore, UC Irvine, Jr. 0-3 1.88 31 0 0 0/3 23 43.0 35 10 9 10 38 .223
SECOND TEAM
Pos. Name, School, Class Avg. G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBIs BB SO SB/SBA
C Kyle Schwarber, Indiana, Jr. .358 59 232 66 83 16-6-14 48 44 30 10/13
*1B Matt Tellor, Southeast Missouri St., Sr. .386 57 233 60 90 18-0-15 71 30 26 2/4
*2B Ryan Seiz, Liberty, Jr. .351 59 231 55 81 16-2-12 43 28 52 0/1
3B Dustin DeMuth, Indiana, Sr. .374 57 211 40 79 16-1-5 40 20 40 4/9
SS Dylan Bosheers, Tennessee Tech, Jr. .368 59 234 66 86 14-1-11 56 27 32 8/12
*OF DJ Stewart, Florida State, So. .351 53 194 45 68 19-0-7 50 40 30 4/5
OF Caleb Adams, UL Lafayette, Jr. .381 67 223 67 85 18-7-11 42 46 60 7/13
*OF Jeff Gardner, Louisville, Sr. .321 63 234 37 75 20-2-9 68 22 42 2/3
OF Chase Harris, New Mexico, Sr. .377 58 247 46 93 11-5-8 63 17 27 13/20
DH Bryan Soloman, Eastern Kentucky, Sr. .344 54 209 39 72 12-1-14 55 12 35 1/3
^UT Aaron Brown, Pepperdine, Jr. .314 61 242 44 76 13-3-13 49 9 52 5/8
13-1, 1.95 ERA, 17 APP, 17GS, 1 CG, 1/2 SHO, 115.2 IP, 84H, 29R, 25ER, 40BB, 104K, .212 OPP BA
Pos. Name School W-L ERA APP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO OPP BA
SP Brandon Finnegan, TCU, Jr. 9-3 2.12 16 16 1 0/4 0 97.2 70 24 23 27 129 .202
^SP Nathan Kirby, Virginia, So. 9-2 1.73 16 16 1 1/2 0 104.0 65 25 20 25 104 .182
SP Matt Imhoff, Cal Poly, Jr. 10-4 2.45 15 15 1 1/3 0 99.1 65 32 27 43 124 .195
SP Kyle Funkhouser, Louisville, So. 13-2 1.73 17 17 0 0/4 0 114.1 79 29 22 59 117 .198
^SP Joey DeNato, Indiana, Sr. 13-1 1.82 17 16 0 0/4 0 109.0 91 26 22 39 81 .236
^SP Preston Morrison, TCU, Jr. 9-4 1.32 17 17 5 3/2 0 122.1 85 24 18 19 85 .197
RP Michael Cederoth, San Diego State, Jr. 6-2 2.28 32 1 0 0/2 20 51.1 36 19 13 28 55 .205
RP Jacob Lindgren, Mississippi State, Jr. 6-1 0.81 26 0 0 0/3 3 55.1 23 9 5 25 100 .124
RP Joel Seddon, South Carolina, Jr. 3-2 1.66 27 1 0 0/5 14 48.2 37 10 9 12 59 .213
THIRD TEAM
Pos. Name, School, Class Avg. G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBIs BB SO SB/SBA
C Will Allen, Ole Miss, Sr. .345 65 261 42 90 23-0-7 61 15 40 0/1
*1B Connor Joe, San Diego, Jr. .367 53 218 59 80 21-2-9 51 32 24 3/6
*2B Mark Mathias, Cal Poly, So. .386 58 210 48 81 14-1-2 39 23 18 12/16
3B Scott Schaub, Jacksonville, Sr. .407 47 172 23 70 7-3-1 47 24 19 9/10
SS Michael Russell, North Carolina, Jr. .339 60 230 43 78 20-2-4 32 29 27 13/18
OF Auston Bousfield, Ole Miss, Jr. .349 65 275 58 96 18-2-6 50 16 25 17/18
*OF Casey Jones, Elon, Jr. .418 53 196 42 82 20-4-7 53 36 40 11/14
OF Bradley Zimmer, San Francisco, Jr. .368 54 220 42 81 10-7-7 31 31 34 21/32
OF Chase Raffield, Georgia State, Sr. .356 56 205 44 73 19-0-14 59 27 29 7/10
DH Blaise Salter, Michigan State, Jr. .317 57 221 34 70 22-0-5 50 17 27 0/2
UT Louie Lechich, San Diego, Sr. .342 53 225 45 77 18-3-7 46 16 30 3/7
8-3, 2.51 ERA, 13 APP, 13 GS, 1 CG, 1/3 SHO, 82.1 IP, 82H, 25R, 23ER, 21BB, 50K, .265 OPP BA
Pos. Name School W-L ERA APP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO B/Avg.
^SP Kyle Freeland, Evansville, Jr. 10-2 1.90 14 14 2 1/2 0 99.2 79 29 21 13 128 .214
^SP Michael Murray, Florida Gulf Coast, So. 13-1 1.85 15 15 2 1/2 0 107.0 92 30 22 14 79 .229
^SP Andrew Morales, UC Irvine, Jr. 11-2 1.53 18 18 3 3/1 0 129.2 83 26 33 30 136 .182
^SP Sam Street, Texas-Pan American, Sr. 12-2 1.81 15 15 11 1/0 0 129.1 104 33 26 25 91 .217
SP Tyler Davis, Washington, Jr. 11-2 1.60 17 15 1 1/2 1 106.2 88 22 19 15 62 .232
SP Thomas Eshelman, Cal State Fullerton, So. 8-3 1.89 16 16 5 2/1 0 123.2 100 32 26 8 99 .222
RP Bryan Garcia, Miami, Fla., Fr. 7-4 1.75 31 0 0 0/1 15 51.1 40 12 10 19 56 .220
RP Riley Ferrell, TCU, So. 2-1 0.68 29 0 0 0/5 15 39.2 16 4 3 13 64 .124
RP Ryan Thompson, Campbell, Jr. 7-2 1.33 39 0 0 0 17 88.0 71 21 13 29 87 .219
RP Ryan Williams, East Carolina, Sr. 11-3 1.81 32 0 0 0 7 99.2 88 27 20 11 76 .236
*-Conference player of the year
^-Conference pitcher of the year
