Freshman Zach Stephens honored as All-American by Collegiate Baseball
The 2011 Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American team, selected by Collegiate Baseball newspaper, features a wealth of baseball talent that includes Tennessee Tech freshman Zach Stephens, a first-baseman out of Hixson, Tenn.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The 2011 Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American team, selected by Collegiate Baseball newspaper, features a wealth of baseball talent that includes Tennessee Tech freshman Zach Stephens, a first-baseman out of Hixson, Tenn.
Stephens batted over .400 for the first 15 games of his first year as a Golden Eagle, going 2-for-3 with a walk and four RBI in his debut against Virginia Tech in Coastal Carolina's pre-season tournament. From that point on, he went on to record a 10-game hitting streak and to log 15 more multi-RBI games, finishing the 2011 season leading the Golden Eagles and ranking fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference with a total of 49 runs batted in.
A starter in 52 of Tech's 54 contests in 2011 as the team's primary first-baseman, his 64 hits – the second most on the team – in 207 at-bats left him hitting at a .309 mark and slugging a respectable .536, a statistic that also occupied the two-spot in team rankings. He led the Golden Eagles with 111 total bases, courtesy of his team-high 25 extra-base hits. Those extra bases came on 13 doubles, which tied him with junior Ben Burgess as the team's leader, and 10 home runs to also lead the line-up with senior slugger Chad Oberacker.
Stephen's home run stat put him in a three-way tie with Oberacker and Jacksonville State's Ben Waldrip for the five-spot in OVC rankings in that category. Meanwhile, Stephens also occupied the nine-hole in conference standings in total bases.
"Zach is very deserving of this award, he's going to be a special player at Tennessee Tech and has a very promising career ahead," TTU head coach Matt Bragga said. "He did a great job coming in to this year with some big shoes to fill, as he really stepped in to what really used to be A.J. [Kirby-Jones'] position.
"We never asked him to fill those shoes, but he did it without saying and we're just very happy for him being honored as an All-American," Bragga finished.
This honor comes as Stephen's second individual honor of his career, as he was named to the All-OVC freshman team following at the conclusion of the regular season. He joins five fellow OVC players in Phil Sorensen (UTM), Bryan Soloman (EKU), Coty Blanchard (JSU), Jordan Hankins (APSU), and Devin Caldwell (SIUE) on Collegiate Baseball's 2011 list.
Texas' Corey Knebel , a right-handed pitcher for the Longhorns, was named Collegiate Baseball's Freshman Pitcher of the Year (17 saves, 1.23 ERA, 57 strikeouts and 12 walks in 51 1/3 innings) while Daniel Aldrich, and outfielder out of the College of Charleston, was honored as the Freshman Player of the Year (.347, 22 homers, 17 doubles and 73 RBI).
A comprehensive list of the 2011 Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-Americans follows:
Starting Pitchers
RHP Tyler Barnette, Charlotte
RHP Adam Plutko, UCLA
RHP Karsten Whitson, Florida
RHP Alex Gonzalez, Oral Roberts
RHP Scott Garner, Bethune-
RHP Justin Hageman, Western Kentucky
RHP Austin Kubitza, Rice
RHP Zack Weiss, UCLA
RHP Brandon McNitt, Stony Brook
RHP Chris Pike, Fordham
RHP Desmond Poulson, Brigham
RHP Nick Petree, Missouri St
RHP Tyler Moore, North Florida
RHP Shaun Coughlin, Maine
LHP Dylan Stuart, U.C. Riverside
LHP Nick Leiningen, Sacred Heart
RHP Alex Facundus, Tulane
LHP Dillon Overton, Oklahoma
LHP Cole Swanson, San Diego St.
LHP Joey DeNato, Indiana
Relief Pitchers
Corey Knebel, Texas
Andrew Mitchell, Texas Christian
Stefan Crichton, Texas Christian
Kolton Mahoney, Brigham Young
Kyle Porter, California
Andrew McGee, Monmouth
Barrett Astin, Arkansas
Zack Hartman, UNLV
C.K. Irby, Samford
Cale Elam, Wichita St.
Nolan Sanburn, Arkansas
Chris Anderson, Jacksonville
Dylan Stuart, U.C. Riverside
Jonathan Reich, Fordham
Tim Swatek, Fordham
Paul Paez, San Diego
Ryan Van Assche, Norfolk St.
Tyler Dray, Southern Illinois
Catchers
C/1B/DH Brad Zebedis, Presbyterian
Jared Bales, Southern Mississippi
First Basemen
Brian Ragira, Stanford
Trey Mancini, Notre Dame
1B/OF Chris Marconcini, Duke
1B/DH Zach Stephens, Tennessee Tech
Second Basemen
Shane Kennedy, North Florida
Troy Black, Maine
JaCoby Jones, Louisiana St.
Jordan Hankins, Austin Peay
Oscar Sanay, Cal. St. Bakersfield
Sebastian Gomez, Elon
Third Basemen
Kris Bryant, San Diego
D.J. Peterson, New Mexico
Colin Moran, North Carolina
3B/1B Dominic Ficociello, Arkansas
Erich Weiss, Texas
Alex Calbick, Maine
Bryan Soloman, Eastern Kentucky
Coty Blanchard, Jacksonville St.
Dustin DeMuth, Indiana
Kyle DeMerritt, Santa Clara
Trey Nielsen, Utah
T.J. Bennett, Oral Roberts
Shortstops
Luke Tendler, North Carolina A&T
Ryan Gebhardt, Louisiana Tech.
Outfielders
Daniel Aldrich, College of Charleston
Kyle Wren, Georgia Tech.
Michael Lorenzen, Cal. St. Fullerton
Johnny Field, Arizona
Tony Kemp, Vanderbilt
Jaycob Brugman, Brigham Young
Krey Bratsen, Texas A&M
Jonathan Davis, Central Arkansas
C.T. Bradford, Mississippi St.
Ryan Walker, Texas-Arlington
Aaron Barbosa, Northeastern
Aaron Judge, Fresno St.
Michael O'Neill, Michigan
Alex Bacon, North Florida
Bill Bereszniewicz, Binghamton
Bill Cullen, Virginia Commonwealth
Cody Smith, San Diego St.
Turner Gill, Portland
Tyson Weber, Southern Utah
Derrick Workman, Mercer
Devin Caldwell, Southern Illinois-Edwardsville
Forrest Brandt, Davidson
Jared King, Kansas St.
Mike Gerber, Creighton
Nick Crescenzo, Rider
Pete Rajkovich, Centenary
Phillip Ervin, Samford
Riley Good, Texas-San Antonio
Taylor Cato, Navy
Designated Hitters
Phil Sorensen, Tennessee-Martin
Conrad Gregor, Vanderbilt
Jeff Zimmerman, Northern Illinois
Joey Burney, Old Dominion
Justin Glass, Cincinnati
Kavin Keyes, Oregon St.
Ty McFarland, James Madison
Multiple Position Athletes
Josh Dezse, Ohio St.
Marco Gonzales, Gonzaga
David Paiz, Texas Tech.
Desmond Russell, Jackson St.
Mike Ford, Princeton
