ABCA/Rawlings All AmericansOMAHA - Cal State Fullerton designated hitter David Olmedo-Barrera and right-hander Thomas Eshelman were each named to the American Baseball Coaches' Association/Rawlings All-America team, it was announced Saturday.
Olmedo-Barrera and Eshelman each earned nods on the ABCA/Rawlings First Team and were two of three players selected from the Big West Conference, with UC Santa Barbara right-hander Dillon Tate earning a spot on the third team.
Olmedo-Barrera enters the College World Series (CWS) with a .328 average, leading the team in runs (44), triples (5), home runs (10), RBIs (45), total bases (113) and slugging percentage (.571). Competing in 58 games (54 starts) and batting third as Fullerton's starting designated hitter, Olmedo-Barrera adds 44 runs scored, eight doubles, 27 walks and a team-high 14 stolen bases to his offensive repertoire.
In the winner-take-all series finale against Louisville in the Super Regionals on June 8, Olmedo-Barrera belted two round-trippers in a 3-for-4 effort including the go-ahead solo-homer in the 11th inning to send the Titans to the CWS for the first time since 2009. He torched Cardinals' pitching for a .583 (7-for-12) clip in the series, collecting five runs, one double, two home runs and two RBIs.
Olmedo-Barrera was tabbed Big West Conference Co-Player of the Year and was also named to the Fullerton All-Regional Team. In conference play, he batted .383 with 31 hits, 22 runs scored and a team-leading 26 RBIs as well as six home runs, six doubles and one triple with a .704 slugging percentage. Olmedo-Barrera recorded a 12-game hitting streak during the year, the longest for any Titan in 2015 as Fullerton maintained a 9-3 record during that stretch.
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.
The Titans open the 2015 NCAA College World Series Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT against defending national champion Vanderbilt on ESPN2.
