St. John's University Athletics
Baltz, Hansen Earn 2011 Louisville Slugger Preseason All-America Status
12/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Dec. 17, 2010
QUEENS, N.Y. - Sophomores Jeremy Baltz and Kyle Hansen have each earned 2011 Preseason All-America status from Louisville Slugger. Already named a first team Preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer Association (NCBWA), Baltz was a second team selection and Hansen was named to the third team.
A consensus All-American as a freshman in 2010, Baltz became the first St. John's player in program history to earn All-America honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA), Baseball America, Louisville Slugger and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) in the same season. The outfielder earned first team honors from Baseball America and second team honors from the ABCA, Louisville Slugger and the NCBWA.
The NCBWA National Freshman Hitter of the Year and the Louisville Slugger Freshman Player of the Year, Baltz also garnered Freshman All-America honors from Baseball America, the NCBWA and Louisville Slugger. Baltz, who led the nation in both home runs (24) and RBI (85) by a freshman, finished the season ranked tied for seventh in the country in home runs and tied for sixth in RBI.
The BIG EAST Rookie of the Year broke St. John's single season records in both home runs and RBI, and finished the season with a .396 average, 16 doubles, 24 home runs and 85 RBI. A unanimous first team All-BIG EAST choice, Baltz started all 63 games for the Red Storm and also scored 64 runs to go with a .771 slugging percentage and a .479 on-base percentage.
A Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American in 2010, Hansen also earned second team Freshman All-America status from both Baseball America and the NCBWA after finishing his rookie campaign with an 8-3 record and a 3.71 ERA. A third team All-BIG EAST honoree, the righty made 18 appearances, including 15 starts, and tallied 85 strikeouts in 94.2 innings, while limiting opponents to a .227 average.
Hansen went 1-0 with a 0.63 ERA and 13 strikeouts in 14.1 innings in a pair of BIG EAST Tournament starts to earn the Jack Kaiser Award as the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament.
