NATIONAL COLLEGIATE BASEBALL WRITERS ASSOCIATION (Feb 3, 2015) ncbwa.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bo Carter (214‐418‐6132) Mike Montoro (304‐293‐2821) NCBWA ANNOUNCES 15th ANNUAL 2015 NCAA DIVISION I PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAMS 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 18th 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 69th 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. ‐more‐ 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.