University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Nick Sandlin and Matt Wallner Named ABCA/Rawlings All-Americans
6/16/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss right-handed pitcher Nick Sandlin (Evans, Ga.) and sophomore outfielder Matt Wallner (Forest Lake, Minn.) were each named to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-America teams Saturday by the organization.
Sandlin earned first-team honors, while Wallner was a third-team pick. First recognized in 1949, the ABCA/Rawlings All-Americans are selected by the ABCA All-America Committee. The Chair of the committee is Tommy Raffo of Arkansas State. Also on the committee are Dean Ehehalt (Monmouth University), Brian O'Connor (Virginia), Butch Thompson (Auburn), Jim Penders (Connecticut), Steve Jaksa (Central Michigan), Dan Heefner (Dallas Baptist) and George Horton (Oregon).
Sandlin, a consensus first-team All-America choice including Perfect Game's National Pitcher of the Year, posted a 10-0 record this spring as he was converted into the team's top starter from its closer role. In addition, Sandlin registered the lowest earned run average in the nation in 2018 with a 1.06, while fanning 144 and walked just 18 over 102 1/3 innings to have one of the lowest WHIPs in collegiate baseball.
The only Golden Eagle to ever win and save over 20 games each in his career helped the program to a 44-18 record this season that included a Conference USA regular-season and tournament championship - the first time the school had achieved that feat since 2003.
Earlier this month, Sandlin was selected in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in the second round by the Cleveland Indians with the 67th overall pick. Sandlin also earned Google Earth/CoSIDA first-team Academic All-America honors and also has been named a first-team pick by Perfect Game/Rawlings, Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and D1Baseball.com.
Wallner, who reports to the USA Baseball Collegiate National team later this month, earned NCBWA second-team accolades in the outfield and was a third-team selection at designated hitter by D1Baseball.com as well. He also was a first-team All-South Region honoree by the ABCA.
The 2017 National Freshman of the Year by most national media organizations finished the spring with a .351 batting average with 13 doubles, to go along with team highs of 16 home runs and 67 RBI. He walked 48 times to have an on-base percentage of .474, while his slugging was at .618.
The Golden Eagle centerfielder blasted a team-best three grand slams during the year.
