D1Baseball.com All AmericansNCBWA Preseason All-America Teams (PDF)
FULLERTON, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton right-handers Justin Garza and Thomas Eshelman each earned more preseason accolades Tuesday as each was named a preseason All-American by D1Baseball.com. In addition, Eshelman was also named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Preseason All-America Team on Tuesday.
Garza was named to the D1Baseball.com All-America Third Team Tuesday while Eshelman earned a first team nod from D1Baseball.com and a spot on the second team from NCBWA.
For Garza, it was the Ontario, Calif. native's second preseason All-American selection after he earned a nod on the Louisville Slugger All-American Second Team in December. Eshelman earned his fourth and fifth preseason honors respectively Tuesday and third in the last two days as he was named to the Baseball America Preseason All-America Third Team on Monday.
Garza and Eshelman were two of the three players selected from the Big West Conference in the D1Baseball.com All-American Team with reigning conference player of the year Mark Mathias of Cal Poly joining Eshelman as first-team selections.
Four players from the Big West were selected by the NCBWA with Cal Poly's Casey Bloomquist (SP, First Team) and Mark Mathias (2B, Second Team) along with UC Irvine's Sam Moore (RP, Second Team) joining Eshelman on the All-American Team.
Garza has compiled a 17-4 record in his first two seasons with the Titans to go along with a 2.49 ERA. After posting a 12-0 record as a freshman, Garza battled injuries midway through his sophomore year and finished with a 5-4 record in 2014 with a 3.22 ERA. To date, Garza has only one loss when the Titans score runs as three of his losses in 2014 came by shutout.
On May 23, Garza became the fourth Cal State Fullerton pitcher to toss a no-hitter as he held CSUN without a base hit. Garza was the first Titans pitcher to accomplish the feat since 2001 when Kirk Saarloos no-hit Pacific in a 28-0 victory. Garza walked three and struck out 12, matching his career high. He also tossed his first career complete game in the process and was named the Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week.
As for Eshelman, the Titans Friday-night starter returns to Fullerton for his junior season and has compiled a 20-6 record with a 1.69 ERA. He's tallied 182 strikeouts and just 11 walks in 32 starts and 239 and 1/3 innings pitched, tossing seven complete games including two shutouts.
As a sophomore in 2014, Eshelman went 8-3 with a 1.89 ERA and set a new career best with 99 strikeouts after fanning 83 batters as a freshman. He ranked first in the Big West and 10th in the nation with five complete games and posted a 0.87 WHIP, which placed him 12th overall in the nation. Eshelman also led the country with a 0.58 walks allowed per nine innings average along with a 12.38 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Eshelman pitched a 10-inning complete-game shutout on Apr. 25, a feat that garnered him four player-of-the-week honors. Eshelman was named one of the Louisville Slugger National Players of the Week by Collegiate Baseball and the National Pitcher of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). The Carlsbad, Calif. native also received recognition from the NCAA as one of the top performers of the week and also received Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week honors.
The Titans, who have received four preseason Top-25 rankings so far, begin the season Feb. 13 at the Clearwater Tournament hosted by South Florida at Bright House Field in Clearwater, Fla. Fullerton is slated to open the tournament against the host Bulls followed by Alabama State on Feb. 14 and then a top-25 showdown against No. 12 Louisville on Feb. 15 to conclude the weekend.
This season, Fullerton plays 26 home games and seven weekend series' at Goodwin Field.
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