May 26, 2010

2010 d3baseball.com All-America Team

BALTIMORE, MD – The honors continue to roll in for the top-ranked Johns Hopkins baseball team as senior centerfielder Dave Kahn (New Hyde Park, NY/Herricks) has been selected as the d3baseball.com National Player of the Year it was announced today.  Kahn, who also landed a spot on the d3baseball.com All-America First Team, was previously named the Centennial Conference Player of the Year.  He also earned First Team All-Mid-Atlantic Region honors from the ABCA.

The Blue Jays landed five players on the All-America team as second baseman Brian Youchak (Pittsburgh, PA/Vincentian Academy), a graduate student, and sophomore pitcher Sam Eagleson (Reading, PA/Governor Mifflin) joined Kahn on the first team, while junior outfielder Jesse Sikorski (Syracuse, NY/Christian Brothers Academy) garnered second team honors.  Senior catcher John Swarr (Radnor, PA/Conestoga) rounded out JHU’s All-Americans as he grabbed third team honors.

Johns Hopkins will carry a 43-5 record into the NCAA Division III College World Series this weekend.  The Blue Jays, who won the Centennial Conference and NCAA Mid.-Atlantic Regional Titles, will be looking for the program’s first national championship after near-misses in 1989 (3^rd place) and 2008 (2^nd place).  Johns Hopkins will play sixth-ranked Heidelberg on Friday afternoon (5:30 pm EST) in its series’ opener.

Kahn will carry a .473 batting average into the World Series and counts 79 hits, 72 runs scored and 70 RBIs to his credit.  He also leads the team in home runs (16), doubles (16), triples (5), slugging percentage (.916) and stolen bases (18).  He is the first player in school history with 70 hits, 70 runs scored and 70 RBIs in one season and currently ranks among the top 20 in the nation in 10 different offensive categories.  Of note he ranks second in second in RBIs, third in runs scored, fourth in slugging percentage and total bases (153) and fifth in home runs.

Youchak garners First Team All-America honors for the second time as he was also selected in 2008.  One of the best pure hitters in the nation, Youchak is hitting .505 with 94 hits, 74 runs scored, 61 RBIs, 14 doubles, 15 home runs and 12 stolen bases.  His 74 runs scored are a school record, as are his 33 multi-hit games this season.  He is also tied for the school single-season record for hits, leads the team in on-base percentage (.557) and ranks second in slugging percentage (.833).  Youchak’s 94 hits and 74 runs scored both lead the nation, while his .505 batting average ranks third.  He was previously named the ABCA Mid.-Atlantic Region Player of the Year and also grabbed First Team All-Centennial and First Team All-Mid.-Atlantic Region honors.

Eagleson didn’t throw a pitch for the Blue Jays as a freshman, but heads to Appleton, Wisconsin this week with an 11-0 record, a 2.45 ERA and 54 strikeouts against just 22 walks in 73.1 innings.  The opposition has hit just .207 against him this season and he has already picked up Centennial Conference and Mid.-Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year awards to go along with First Team All-Centennial and First Team All-Mid.-Atlantic Region honors.  Eagleson’s 11 wins this season are just one shy of Mark Campbell’s school record of 12 set in 1986.

Sikorski, who was also previously named First Team All-Centennial and First Team All-Mid-Atlantic Region, is hitting .392 with 62 hits, 70 RBIs and 52 runs scored.  He also counts 13 home runs and 14 doubles to his credit and is tied for second in the nation with his 70 RBIs.  He has 18 multi-hit games and 18 multi-RBI games to his credit this season and also had a personal-best 19 games hitting streak earlier this year.

Behind the plate, Swarr has developed into one of the top catchers in the nation.  He was recently named to the ABCA Mid.-Atlantic All-Region Second Team and was also named the ABCA All-Mid.-Atlantic Gold Glove catcher as well.  He has earned First Team All-Centennial Conference honors in each of the last two years and was recently named a First Team ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American.  He currently boasts a .996 fielding percentage and has thrown out 8-of-19 potential base stealers.  Swarr has started 39 games this season and ranks third on the team in batting average (.419) and on-base percentage (.506) and fourth in slugging percentage (.729) and RBIs (55).  He is also tied for second in doubles (14) and ranks sixth in runs scored (38).

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