ABCA All-West Region TeamFULLERTON - Cal State Fullerton continued to rake in the postseason awards Wednesday as three players added to their accolades.
Right-hander Thomas Eshelman, reliever Tyler Peitzmeier and designated hitter David Olmedo-Barrera were each named to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-West Region Team. In addition, Eshelman was named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's All-American Team on Wednesday.
Eshelman and Olmedo-Barrera each earned ABCA/Rawlings All-West Region First Team nods while Peitzmeier earned a spot as a reliever on the second team. Eshelman was named to the NCBWA All-American Third Team.
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.
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.
In Cal State Fullerton's 13-2 trounce of Big West foe Cal Poly on April 4, Olmedo-Barrera tied the school record for most RBIs in a single game as he drove in eight runs for the Titans, tying Danny Dorn's record which was set on April 8, 2003 against Loyola Marymount at Goodwin Field in Fullerton, Calif. He concluded the day 2-for-2 with a single, grand slam, sacrifice fly and an RBI hit by pitch.
Thus far into his career, Olmedo-Barrera has competed in 98 games, 73 of which are starts for Fullerton. The La Canada, Calif. native sits with a .310 career batting average and has tallied 92 hits, 13 doubles and six triples. He's swiped 15 bags in 22 attempts to compliment his 59 RBIs and 10 home runs.
Peitzmeier, recorded his team-leading 30th appearance of the season in the deciding victory against Louisville on Monday.
In total, the left-hander enters the College World Series (CWS) with a 5-3 record and 2.20 ERA to go along with 58 strikeouts in 57 and 1/3 innings. With 16 saves (16-for-16) on the year, Peitzmeier is tied for the third most by a Titans reliever in a single season and the most since Michael Lorenzen shut the door 19 times in 2013. The saves mark currently ranks third in the nation and first in the Big West Conference.
Flourishing in the closer's role, Peitzmeier was a Big West Conference First Team and Louisville Slugger All-American selection, while adding his name to the NCBWA Midseason Stopper of the Year Watch List.
In three appearances in the postseason, Peitzmeier captured a victory in all three efforts over 13 innings including a pair of extended performances of five innings. In the winner-take-all series finale against Louisville on Monday, he scattered four hits and allowed just one run and struck out three in a 4-3 triumph to send the Titans to the CWS for the first time since 2009.
In the series opener against the Cardinals on Saturday, Peitzmeier turned in three innings and gave up one run in a 3-2 victory. To begin the postseason, he posted his first extended appearance with five innings of shutout relief on May 30, matching a season high with six strikeouts, in a 3-2, 14-inning win over No. 21 Arizona State in game four of the Fullerton Regional.
During his four-year tenure on the mound, Peitzmeier sits with a 9-3 record and 1.90 ERA in 97 appearances, making three starts. He tallied 17 career saves, which is ninth most in program history. Peitzmeier struck out 112 batters in 123 and 2/3 innings pitched while issuing 29 walks.
