Schwarz Named Freshman Player of the Year; Guthrie & Rivera Also Earn Freshman All-American Honors
Wednesday, June 3, 2015 | Baseball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida catcher/designated hitter JJ Schwarz was named as Collegiate Baseball's Co-Freshman Player of the Year, while second baseman Dalton Guthrie and catcher/designated hitter Mike Rivera were named to the 2015 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team announced by Collegiate Baseball newspaper on Wednesday.
The trio increases the number to 13 Freshmen All-Americans in head coach Kevin O'Sullivan's eight-year tenure, a group that includes Josh Adams (2008), Preston Tucker (2009), Nolan Fontana (2010), Brian Johnson (2010), Austin Maddox (2010), Hudson Randall (2010), Mike Zunino (2010), Karsten Whitson (2011), Casey Turgeon (2012) and Logan Shore (2014).
Named second-team All-SEC and to the league's All-Freshman Team, Schwarz has been the Most Valuable Player of the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Gainesville Regional over the past two weekends. He ranks second on the Orange and Blue with a .320 batting average and leads the squad with an SEC-best 66 RBI, 16 doubles and 15 homers.
Schwarz and Louisville's Brendan McKay were the Freshman Players of the Year from Collegiate Baseball and LSU's Alex Lange was the Freshman Pitcher of the Year.
The first Gator freshman catcher to be chosen All-SEC since Mike Stanley in 1982, Rivera is hitting .266 with 41 RBI, 28 runs, 14 walks and 10 doubles and boasts a .997 fielding percentage (one error in 304 chances). He provided the winning margin in the SEC Tournament semifinal victory over No. 1 LSU with a solo homer in the ninth inning.
A member of the SEC's All-Freshman Team, Guthrie has a .290 clip primarily out of the leadoff spot, to go along with 49 runs, 25 walks, 23 runs, 14 doubles and six stolen bases.
Up Next for the Gators
The NCAA Super Regional between No. 3 Florida (47-16) and No. 10 Florida State (44-19) at McKethan Stadium will begin on Friday at 7:30 p.m. and will be carried live on ESPN2. The second game of the best-of-three series will be at 5 p.m. on Saturday on ESPN2, with the third and deciding game to begin at either 6 p.m. (ESPNU) or 7 p.m. (ESPN2) on Sunday if necessary.
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