UF's Mike Zunino & Preston Tucker Earn ABCA All-American Honors
Thursday, June 30, 2011 | Baseball
Sophomore catcher Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) and junior outfielder Preston Tucker (Tampa, Fla.) were named All-Americans by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) on Thursday. Adding another first-team selection to his impressive 2011 ledger, Zunino had previously been tabbed as an All-American by Baseball America (first team), Perfect Game (first team), Louisville Slugger (second team) and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) (third team). Tucker was a second-team choice by the organization to achieve All-American status for the first time in his career.
Both Tucker and Zunino were also named first-team All-South Region by the ABCA, while senior second baseman Josh Adams (Jacksonville, Fla.) and sophomore Hudson Randall (Atlanta, Ga.) were second-team recipients.
The 2011 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, Zunino led the second-ranked Gators and was among the league leaders in batting average (.371), total bases (178), hits (98), runs (75), doubles (23), homers (19), slugging percentage (.674) and on-base percentage (.442). He registered a .995 fielding percentage, with three errors in 570 chances, and is a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award.
A first-team All-SEC pick and the Most Outstanding Player of the 2011 NCAA Gainesville Regional, Tucker batted .308 with a team-best 74 RBI, 55 runs, 28 walks and 23 doubles in 72 games. During the Gators' 11 NCAA Tournament outings, he totaled 20 RBI and had 11 extra-base hits (six doubles and five homers) on his way to a .304 (14-for-46) clip. Tucker hit .311 with 25 runs, 22 RBI, seven doubles and four homers in conference action this spring.
Adams closed a stellar career in style by earning All-South recognition for the second time in his career after making the squad as a freshman in 2008. During his senior campaign, he hit .323 with 43 RBI, 34 runs, 11 doubles and six homers and finished his tenure in Gainesville as the school's all-time leader in games played (253) and games started (252). Adams became just the fourth Gator baseball player in school history to achieve All-SEC status in three different seasons, as he previously garnered first-team accolades in 2008 and 2009. He is now a member of an elite group that includes Mike Stanley (82-84-85), Marc Valdes (91-92-93) and Brad Wilkerson (96-97-98). Adams batted .351 with 21 RBI, 15 runs and eight extra-base hits (five doubles, three homers) in SEC action.
Over 19 starts, Randall registered an 11-3 record for the Orange and Blue and compiled a 2.17 earned run average. Over a team-high 124.1 innings, he notched 73 strikeouts, issued 13 walks and limited opponents to a .227 average. Randall was responsible for the Gators' two complete-game efforts during the season and was a 2-0 in NCAA play with a 1.91 ERA. The righty limited fifth-ranked Texas to one earned run over 6.2 innings to collect the win in Florida's College World Series opener and held eventual national champion South Carolina scoreless for 7.2 innings in the first game of the CWS Championship Finals on Monday night.
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