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Four Senators tabbed as NJCAA All-Americans

Four Senators tabbed as NJCAA All-Americans

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — After compiling a 60-8 record, finishing national runner-up at the Alpine Bank JUCO World Series and spending most of the season ranked No. 1 in the nation, the Walters State Senators placed a nation's best four players on the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I Baseball All-America Teams, the organization announced.

 

Sophomore second baseman Austin Henry, an Ann Arbor, Michigan, native and TCCAA Player of the Year, was named to the All-America First Team, while Johnson City native and sophomore pitcher Landon Knack, the TCCAA Pitcher of the Year, and Kingsport native and sophomore shortstop Hunter Wolfe were named to the All-America Second Team and sophomore centerfielder Dylan Harris was tabbed as an All-America Third Team member.

 

Iowa Western and Seminole State of Oklahoma both had three players selected to the All-America Teams, while national champion Chipola of Florida, San Jacinto-North of Texas, Chattahoochee Valley of Alabama, Trinidad State of Colorado, Connors State of Oklahoma, Southern Idaho, Chesapeake of Maryland, Cisco of Texas and McLennan of Texas all had two players named to the Teams.

 

Henry, a Texas Christian University signee, led the Senators and the TCCAA in batting average at .459 this season while smacking 11 homers and finishing with 89 RBIs, just three off the school record for a season set by Ross Grosvenor and Ramon Osuna in 2015. Henry also scored 83 runs, stole 11 bases, ripped 25 doubles and four triples while compiling a .536 on-base percentage.

 

Henry was a member of the JUCO World Series All-Tournament team, as well as Wolfe and Harris.

 

Joining Henry on the First Team infield were State College of Florida's CJ Alexander, Jefferson's Joey Polak (the national home runs and RBI champion) and Chattahoochee Valley's Rankin Woley. The outfield consisted of Clarendon's Mark Castelblanco, Connor State's Luis Pelayo and Cowley County's Alex Peterson, while Connors State's Colton Burgess was the designated hitter and Trinidad State's Conrado Diaz was the catcher. Crowder's Aaron Ashby, Iowa Western's Sean Chandler and Monroe's Antonio Frias were the pitchers.

 

Knack, an East Tennessee State University signee, put together one of the best seasons on the mound in Walters Staet program history, as his 13-0 record fell just shy of Adam Howard's 14-0 mark in 2003 for the most wins in a season. The right-hander tossed 92 2/3 innings while allowing 81 hits, 38 runs (31 earned), a .224 batting average against while striking out 112 batters and walking just 13 this season. At the plate, he batted .343 with 11 homers and 37 RBIs while scoring 36 runs in just 99 at-bats.

 

Wolfe, who will head to TCU with Henry this fall after being a 19th round pick of the Kansas City Royals in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft last week, finished the year batting .419 while hammering nine home runs and driving in 66 runs and scoring 88 times. He also led the team in stolen bases with 41, the most since Dathan Prewett set the school record with 54 in 2014.

 

Joining Knack and Wolfe on the Second Team were Miami Dade's Yusniel Padron and Wallace State's Blake Rivera as pitchers, Dodge City's Colton Onstott at catcher, Olney Central's Phil Archer, Hillsborough's Bryan Lavastida and Panola's Michael Lawson in the infield, Coastal Alabama-South's Juston Dunham, Santa Fe's Andrew Eyster and Iowa Western's Tyler Reichenborn as outfielders and Wallace-Dothan's Oraj Anu as the designated hitter.

 

Harris, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill signee, ended the campaign batting .388 while belting 14 home runs, driving in 59 runs and setting a new school record for runs scored in a season with 93, besting Stuart Ritchie's mark of 92 set in 2002. He added 25 doubles, just two off of the mark of 27 set by Osuna (2015) and Marcus Davis (2012), tagged three triples and stole 20 bases during the season.

 

Joining Harris on the Third Team were Chattahoochee Valley's Cole Ganopulos, Olney Central's Braden Scott and Southern Idaho's Dylan Steen as pitchers, McLennan's Josh Breaux as catcher, Kishwaukee's Joseph Locascio, Grayson's Andrew Miller, Howard's Bryan Sturges and Johnson County's Malik Williams in the infield, Fort Scott's Andrew Morrow and San Jacinto-North's Alerick Soularie in the outfield and New Mexico Military Institute's Angel Colon as the designated hitter.

 

The Honorable Mentions were comprised of Arizona Western infielder Sean Roby, Chesapeake pitcher Joseph Nahas and infielder Dayan Reinoso, Chipola pitcher Andrew Grogan and catcher/infielder Max Guzman, Cisco outfielder William Hollis and pitcher Alex Palmer, Cloud County pitcher Erik Sabrowski, Florence-Darlington Tech infielder Rafael Vazquez, Iowa Western pitcher Indigo Diaz, McLennan pitcher Grant Miller, San Jacinto-North pitcher Jacob Cantleberry, Seminole State infielders Gunner Halter and Dalton Reed and outfielder DeShawn Lookout, Southern Idaho outfielder Hayden Leatham, Trinidad State outfielder Blake Mattey and USC Sumter outfielder Eric McGirt.

 

The All-America selections are made by the NJCAA Division I Baseball Committee.