ACC, SEC Powers Headline 2016 All-America Teams

[caption id="attachment_170088" align="alignnone" width="640"] Zack Collins was also a Preseason All-America second-team choice (Photo by Alyson Boyer Rode)[/caption] Texas A&M entered the NCAA tournament as the top-ranked team in the country, and the Aggies also lead all teams with four players on our three All-America teams. First-teamers Ryne Birk and Boomer White, the Southeastern Conference player of the year, lead the group. The SEC put a total of 11 players on the teams, second only to the Atlantic Coast Conference. Ten ACC teams advanced to the NCAA tournament, the most of any conference, and that talent was also reflected with 13 All-Americans. Both of the last two ACC players of the year—2016 honoree Seth Beer and 2015’s winner Will Craig—are first-team All-Americans. In additon to Texas A&M, six other schools produced multiple All-Americans. Clemson, Louisville and Virginia, the defending national champions, all had three players honored. Florida, Mississippi State and Oklahoma State all landed two players on the teams. In all, 33 schools are represented on the All-America teams. Two players from the Preseason All-America first team also made the postseason first team: Kyle Lewis and Logan Shore. Three others were on the second team in the preseason: Zack Collins, Eric Lauer and Brendan McKay, the 2015 Freshman of the Year. In all, 10 players who made one of the Preseason All-America teams are again honored on the postseason teams.

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C ZACK COLLINS JR. MIAMI The 2014 Freshman of the Year, Collins put together his best offensive and defensive season this spring for the Hurricanes, batting .364/.540/.630 with 12 home runs to lead Miami to the third overall seed in the NCAA tournament. Collins’ behind-the-plate defense also took a noticeable jump—elevating his draft stock.

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1B ERIC GUTIERREZ SR. TEXAS TECH A two-time participant in the college home run derby in Omaha, Guiterrez has tremendous power and showcased it this season with 12 home runs and a .344/.468/.621 line. The senior—who has started and played in every game of his college career—was a large reason why the powerful Red Raiders ran away with the Big 12 Conference.

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2B RYNE BIRK JR. TEXAS A&M It isn’t easy to stand out in a lineup as deep and balanced as Texas A&M’s, but Birk was a consistent contributor for the Aggies this spring, batting in multiple spots in the order, including cleanup. He hit .318/.375/.494 with seven home runs for Texas A&M, providing some offensive juice from the second base position.

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3B BOOMER WHITE JR. TEXAS A&M The SEC player of the year’s numbers—on first blush—are impressive. He hit .395/.471/.524 with four home runs. It’s a gaudy stat line. But then look at the conference-only numbers: .471/.524/.653 with three home runs. SEC pitchers simply couldn’t get White out all season long. That’s not an easy feat in the SEC.

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SS TAYLOR WALLS SO. FLORIDA STATE After cooling off in the second half of last season, the sophomore blossomed this year, batting .357/.480/.518 with six home runs and 14 stolen bases in 15 attempts. FSU’s leadoff hitter, Walls epitomized the Seminoles’ patient, grind-it-out offensive approach, putting up a stunning .508 on-base percentage in ACC play.

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OF SETH BEER FR. CLEMSON After graduating from high school a semester early and enrolling at Clemson in January, Beer took college baseball by storm, winning ACC player of the year honors. He went on a 26-game hitting streak, the fourth-longest in program history, and went into the NCAA Tournament hitting .372/.532/.686 with 16 home runs.

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OF ANFERNEE GRIER JR. AUBURN Grier was a bright spot in a long season for Auburn, as the team struggled through a tumultuous transition following Sunny Golloway’s firing in October. He hit .366/.457/.576 with 12 home runs and 19 stolen bases in 238 at-bas, in addition to playing exceptional defense for the Tigers in center field.

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OF KYLE LEWIS JR. MERCER The 2015 Southern Conference player of the year repeated that performance this spring, as he led Mercer to the regular season championship—and won BA’s College Player of the Year award. He hit .395/.535/.731 with 20 home runs and was leading the nation with 66 walks going into the NCAA Tournament.

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DH WILL CRAIG JR. WAKE FOREST Craig blew up last year with one of the loudest offensive performances in the country. He improved on that this year, batting .392/.537/.766 with 16 home runs and 65 RBIs, while serving as the team’s primary closer. Craig led the nation in slugging and was among the national leaders in most other categories.

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UT BRENDAN MCKAY SO. LOUISVILLE McKay won Freshman of the Year last year for a stellar year as Louisville’s Saturday starter and cleanup hitter. Still batting cleanup (.330/.416/.498, four home runs), McKay moved to the Friday role this spring and was one of the best starters in the ACC yet again, going 11-3, 2.25 and using his power curve to strike out 109 in 96 innings.

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SP ERIC LAUER JR. KENT STATE

Lauer didn’t give up a run in his final four starts of his junior season and gave up just 15 (eight earned) in his first 11 starts. That kind of dominance led him to go 10-2, 0.69 for the season, with 125 strikeouts in 104 innings. His ERA is not only the best in the nation this year, but also the best for any Division I starting pitcher since 1979.

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SP A.J. PUCKETT JR. PEPPERDINE In one of the most dominant runs in NCAA history, Puckett threw 45⅔ consecutive scoreless innings for the Waves, the third-longest streak in modern college baseball history. Even after the streak ended, scoring against Puckett remained rare, and he went 9-3, 1.27, posting the third-best ERA in West Coast Conference history.

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SP CODY SEDLOCK JR. ILLINOIS Sedlock made it two years in a row that Illinois has had the Big Ten Conference pitcher of the year, as he followed in Tyler Jay’s footsteps to win the award. Sedlock was a workhorse for Illinois, throwing two complete games and twice pitching past the ninth inning on the way to a 2.49 ERA. He set a program record with 116 strikeouts in 101 innings.

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SP LOGAN SHORE JR. FLORIDA Shore has been the Gators’ Friday starter since his freshman year, and he more than looked the part as a junior, even with teammates with bigger stuff. The Preseason All-American lived up to his billing, and went 10-0, 2.41 for the team that was ranked No. 1 most of the season. He was named Southeastern Conference pitcher of the year.

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RP TROY RALLINGS SR. WASHINGTON The key to Washington’s pitching staff this season was Rallings, who locked down the back end of games and served as his own middle relief. Only one of the senior’s 16 saves was of three outs or less. He accrued enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, and his mark of 0.89 led the Pac-12 Conference and ranked second nationally.

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2016 ALL-AMERICA TEAMS
Pos. Name, School	Yr	AVG	OBP	SLG	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C Zack Collins, Miami	Jr.	.358	.534	.631	176	49	63	13	53	69	48	1
1B Eric Gutierrez, Texas Tech	Sr.	.330	.460	.590	212	51	70	12	53	38	32	3
2B Ryne Birk, Texas A&M	Jr.	.318	.384	.494	245	50	78	7	44	27	33	8
3B Boomer White, Texas A&M	R-Jr.	.398	.476	.533	246	49	98	5	46	33	14	10
SS Taylor Walls, Florida State	So.	.367	.488	.532	237	70	87	6	45	56	42	14
OF Seth Beer, Clemson	Fr.	.369	.535	.700	203	57	75	18	70	62	27	1
OF Anfernee Grier, Auburn	Jr.	.366	.457	.576	238	56	87	12	41	32	55	19
OF Kyle Lewis, Mercer	Jr.	.395	.535	.731	223	70	88	20	72	66	48	6
DH Will Craig, Wake Forest	Jr.	.379	.520	.731	182	53	69	16	66	47	35	0
UTL Brendan McKay, Louisville	So.	.336	.420	.509	220	42	74	5	40	24	31	0
Player, School Year	Yr	W	L	ERA	G	CG	SV	IP	H	BB	SO	AVG
SP Eric Lauer, Kent State	Jr.	10	2	0.69	15	3	0	104	49	28	125	.141
SP A.J. Puckett, Pepperdine	Jr.	9	3	1.27	14	1	0	99	65	26	95	.191
SP Cody Sedlock, Illinois	Jr.	5	3	2.49	14	2	0	101	80	31	116	.219
SP Logan Shore, Florida	Jr.	11	0	2.44	16	3	0	92	75	15	80	.223
RP Troy Rallings, Washington	Sr.	4	1	0.89	28	0	16	61	32	12	60	.155
UTL Brendan McKay, Louisville	So.	12	3	2.12	16	1	0	102	80	42	119	.214
Second Team
Pos. Name, School	Year	AVG	OPB	SLG	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C Chris Okey, Clemson	Jr.	.339	.465	.611	239	61	81	15	74	51	54	4
1B Jameson Fisher, Southeastern Louisiana	Jr.	.424	.558	.692	194	49	84	11	66	54	31	15
2B Jake Noll, Florida Gulf Coast	R-Jr.	.367	.427	.620	237	58	87	12	61	20	29	9
3B Nick Senzel, Tennessee	Jr.	.352	.456	.595	210	57	74	8	59	40	21	25
SS C.J. Chatham, Florida Atlantic	Jr.	.357	.422	.554	249	48	89	8	50	23	36	2
OF Heath Quinn, Samford	Jr.	.343	.452	.682	242	62	83	21	77	44	55	4
OF Corey Ray, Louisville	Jr.	.319	.396	.562	260	55	83	15	60	35	39	39
OF J.B. Woodman, Mississippi	Jr.	.323	.412	.578	232	53	75	14	55	33	48	12
DH Matt Thaiss, Virginia	Jr.	.375	.473	.578	232	55	87	10	59	39	16	0
UTL Luken Baker, Texas Christian	Fr.	.382	.493	.555	220	54	84	8	54	43	34	1
Pos. Player, School	Year	W	L	ERA	G	CG	SV	IP	H	BB	SO	AVG
SP Corbin Burnes, St. Mary’s	Jr.	9	2	2.48	16	3	0	102	76	33	120	.212
SP Connor Jones, Virginia	Jr.	11	1	2.34	15	3	0	104	85	38	72	.225
SP Brigham Hill, Texas A&M	Jr.	9	1	1.95	23	0	1	92	80	24	97	.229
SP Dakota Hudson, Mississippi State	Jr.	9	4	2.62	16	3	0	107	99	34	109	.246
RP Mark Ecker, Texas A&M	Jr.	4	2	0.41	24	0	8	44	24	4	52	.162
UTL Luken Baker, Texas Christian	Fr.	3	1	1.7	10	0	0	48	37	16	41	.213
Third Team
Pos. Name, School	Year	AVG	OPB	SLG	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C Nick Feight, UNC Wilmington	So.	.350	.410	.734	237	59	83	21	91	27	35	1
1B Peter Alonso, Florida	Jr.	.368	.464	.632	193	46	71	12	55	29	30	2
2B Nick Solak, Louisville	Jr.	.380	.474	.576	158	49	60	5	29	27	19	9
3B Jake Burger, Missouri State	So.	.349	.420	.689	235	59	82	21	72	23	35	3
SS Donnie Walton, Oklahoma State	Sr.	.350	.446	.462	223	44	78	3	43	32	29	13
OF Ronnie Dawson, Ohio State	Jr.	.331	.419	.611	257	55	85	13	51	37	43	21
OF Jake Mangum, Mississippi State	Fr.	.418	.470	.520	196	40	82	1	27	14	17	6
OF David Oppenheim, Southern California	Sr.	.387	.500	.508	191	37	74	4	25	39	24	6
DH Brett Cumberland, California	So.	.344	.480	.678	180	46	62	16	51	38	40	5
UTL Adam Haseley, Virginia	So.	.304	.377	.502	247	61	75	6	37	28	29	3
Pos. Player, School	Year	W	L	ERA	G	CG	SV	IP	H	BB	SO	AVG
SP Keegan Akin, Western Michigan	Jr.	7	4	1.82	17	2	0	109	72	30	133	.192
SP Justin Dunn, Boston College	Jr.	4	1	1.49	17	1	2	60	46	16	66	.208
SP Joey Lucchesi, Southeast Missouri State	Sr.	10	5	2.19	17	2	1	111	96	37	149	.234
SP Thomas Hatch, Oklahoma State	R-So.	7	2	2.16	16	3	0	112	94	28	102	.234
RP Pat Krall, Clemson	Jr.	10	2	1.67	29	1	5	81	58	17	65	.203
UTL Adam Haseley, Virginia	So.	9	3	1.73	23	1	0	78	54	21	48	.194