Baseball's Adams Earns 3rd Freshman All-America Accolade
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 | Baseball
Florida second baseman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) completed a hat trick of Freshman All-American honors on Wednesday when he was chosen as a first-team selection by Rivals.com. He had previously been named a first-team recipient by Baseball America and to Louisville Slugger's Freshman All-American list released by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.
The first Gator freshman to be chosen first-team All-Southeastern Conference since Marc Valdes in 1991, Adams sported a .330 batting average with 51 RBI, 42 runs and eight homers. He was also one of five players to be unanimously chosen to the league's All-Freshman Team.
Adams started 57 games for the Orange and Blue at five different positions (30-2B, 18-3B, 4-LF, 4-CF, 1-RF) and saw action at every spot in the infield. He led UF in slugging percentage (.536), walks (35), doubles (17) and sacrifice hits (four) and tied for second in homers (eight). Adams also ranked second on the squad in on-base percentage (.430), total bases (112) and RBI (51) and was 11-for-15 on the basepaths.
The product of Eagle's View Academy was third on the club in SEC play with a .354 clip and had a team-high 27 RBI, 22 runs, 10 doubles and five round-trippers. In the middle of March, the Jacksonville native was tabbed as the SEC Freshman of the Week after an impressive 8-for-11 (.727) league debut during the sweep of Auburn.
Rivals.com Freshman All-America Teams
First Team
C Micah Gibbs (LSU)
1B Hunter Morris (Auburn)
2B Josh Adams (FLORIDA)
SS Derek Dietrich (Georgia Tech)
3B Scott Woodward (Coastal Carolina)
OF Ryan Lockwood (South Florida)
OF Kentrail Davis (Tennessee)
OF Brian Fletcher (Auburn)
DH Stuart Tapley (Florida State)
UT Mike McGee (Florida State)
SP Chris Hernandez (Miami)
SP Chance Ruffin (Texas)
SP Seth Maness (East Carolina)
SP Matt Harvey (North Carolina)
RP Chase Dempsay (Houston)
RP Kevin Rhoderick (Oregon State)
Second Team
C Cameron Rupp (Texas)
1B Danny Stienstra (San Jose State)
2B Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia)
SS Rick Hague (Rice)
3B Rob Segedin (Tulane)
OF Michael Choice (Texas-Arlington)
OF Dan Grovatt (Virginia)
OF Ben Klafczynski (Kent State)
DH Christian Colon (Cal State Fullerton)
UT Brooks Raley (Texas A&M)
SP Shane Davis (Canisius)
SP Kyle Blair (San Diego)
SP Daniel Renken (Cal State Fullerton)
SP Barret Loux (Texas A&M)
RP Drew Storen (Stanford)
RP Matt Evers (Rice)
-UF-
