FULLERTON, Calif. – On the same day that Cal State Fullerton All-American Thomas Eshelman tossed the final inning of relief to seal a 4-3 victory over Louisville in the Super Regionals and send the Titans to the College World Series, the right-hander was selected as the 46th overall pick in the second round by the Houston Astros in the 2015 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft on Monday.
Eshelman earned Fullerton Regional Most Valuable Player honors and was named to the Louisville Slugger All-America First Team by Collegiate Baseball on May 28. In addition, Eshelman was also named the 2015 All-Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year, racking up three conference pitcher of the week honors while landing on the Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist List for the second time in his career. He captured his first nationally recognized honor on May 12 with the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America's (NCBWA) Pitcher of the Week award.
With three appearances (two starts) in the 2015 NCAA postseason, Eshelman boasts a 1.59 ERA with a combined 17 innings of work, yielding only three runs while fanning a whopping 20 against just two walks. Both starts were recorded as no decisions for Eshelman, but the Titans picked up both victories by a pair of 3-2 decisions against Arizona State in the Fullerton Regional on May 30 and against the Cardinals in the Louisville Super Regional on Saturday. In tonight's winner-take-all series finale against Louisville, Eshelman set down the final three batters and added another strikeout in the 11th inning to collect his first career save to send the Titans to Omaha for the first time since 2009.
In 18 appearances (17 starts) this year, Eshelman leads the nation with an impressive 131:7 strikeout-to-walk ratio (18.71) and walks allowed per nine innings (.46) to compliment his 1.58 ERA. He led the conference with five complete games to go along with an 8-5 record. In 131 and 1/3 frames, Eshelman has surrendered 30 runs (23 earned) over the season while striking out an average of nine batters per nine innings.
Thus far into his three-year tenure as a Titan, Eshelman logs an all-time record of 28-11 over 369 and 2/3 innings and a 1.66 ERA. Tonight marked the first and only save of his career. Over his career, Eshelman has allowed 88 runs (68 earned) and added 13 complete games en route to an astounding strikeout to walk ratio of 313:18.
The Carlsbad native used his sophomore season in 2014 to garner All-American honors from Baseball America (second team) and the NCBWA (third team). In addition, Eshelman was one of the conference's honorable mention selections and secured a trio of pitcher of the week accolades (Big West, Louisville Slugger, NCBWA).
Dating back to 1987, Eshelman capped off his 2014 summer by joining Fullerton teammate Justin Garza as the 24th and 25th Titans to represent Cal State Fullerton on the Collegiate National Team. In addition, Cal State Fullerton has placed a student-athlete on Team USA for the last six consecutive seasons.
The rookie season for Eshelman in 2013 was heavily decorated with awards as well, inking his name as both the Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA Freshman Pitcher of the Year and advanced to his first Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist List. In total, four different publications (Louisville Slugger, Baseball America, NCBWA, American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings) recognized him as an All-American with two first-team nods, and another three tabbed him on its respective freshman squads. The conference showcased Eshelman as the Freshman Pitcher of the Year that same season.
Eshelman's selection marks the 41st consecutive year that Cal State Fullerton has had at least one player selected in the MLB Draft and is the 19th Titan to be selected within the first two rounds.
