Tucker Picks Up Fourth Freshman All-America Honor
Thursday, July 2, 2009 | Baseball
Florida's Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) added another Freshman All-American honor to his resume on Thursday when he was chosen as the first baseman on the team produced by Rivals.com. He had previously been tabbed as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Freshman Hitter of the Year, a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball newspaper and was a Freshman All-American by both Baseball America and the NCBWA.
Kendall Rogers, the College Baseball Editor for Yahoo! Sports and Rivals.com, wrote, “Tucker was only a freshman by name this past season. To say he was a contributor for the Gators is an understatement. Tucker played like a veteran. He finished the season hitting .364 with 13 doubles, three triples, 15 homers and 85 RBIs. He also recorded a team best 152 total bases. Also worth noting, Tucker finished the year slugging .628 and had a .419 on-base percentage. In the field, he ended the season with a .992 fielding percentage.”
The SEC Co-Freshman of the Year, Tucker earned the Gators' “Triple Crown” by leading the team in batting average (.364), runs batted in (85) and home runs (15). His total of 85 RBI was a single-season school record and eclipsed the previous mark of 80 set by Ryan Shealy during the 2002 campaign. The slugger also led the Orange and Blue in slugging percentage (.628), multiple-hit (27) and multiple-RBI games (23), as well as total bases (152).
Tucker was named the NCAA Gainesville Regional's Most Outstanding Player after going 9-for-13 (.692) over the three Florida victories with six RBI, two homers and a slugging percentage of 1.231. The rookie was 4-for-5 in the championship-game triumph over the Miami (Fla.) and notched three RBI. Tucker batted .531 (17-for-32) during the postseason, including a scorching .650 (13-for-20) in UF's five NCAA outings.
A unanimous choice on the SEC's All-Freshman squad, Tucker had a spectacular debut to his collegiate career by leading the SEC in league play with 40 RBI. Named the SEC Freshman of the Week three times during the campaign (March 30, April 13, April 27), the Tampa native had a .350 batting average, a .545 slugging percentage, 23 runs and 14 extra-base hits during conference action in helping the Gators capture their first Eastern Division title since 2005.
Rivals.com Freshman All-America Team
C Jeremy Schaffer (Tulane)
1B Preston Tucker (FLORIDA)
2B Matt Jensen (Cal Poly)
SS A.J. Pettersen (Minnesota)
3B Anthony Rendon (Rice)
OF Taylor Dugas (Alabama)
OF Jackie Bradley, Jr. (South Carolina)
OF Kolten Wong (Hawaii)
DH Troy Channing (St. Mary's)
UT Danny Hultzen (Virginia)
SP Taylor Jungmann (Texas)
SP Noe Ramirez (Cal State Fullerton)
SP Sean Gilmartin (Florida State)
SP Trevor Bauer (UCLA)
RP Matty Ott (LSU)
RP Mitchell Lambson (Arizona State)
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