Southland Pitching Duo Garners NCBWA All-America Honors
FRISCO, Texas ? Texas State senior Kane Holbrooks and Southeastern Louisiana junior Chris Franklin have been named to the 14th Annual Pro-Line Athletic National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-America Team, the NCBWA announced Wednesday.
As voted on by the NCBWA, 57 players, including student-athletes from 19 conferences, were selected to three teams. Both of the Southland Conference’s honorees were named Third-Team All-Americans.
A starting pitcher for Southland Conference regular season champion Texas State, Holbrooks was named to the third team as a starting pitcher for his second All-America honor of 2009. The Fort Worth, Texas, native was also named a second-team Louisville Slugger All-American pitcher by Collegiate Baseball in May. In 2009, Holbrooks tallied a Southland Conference-best 10 wins while recording only one loss in 16 appearances, including 15 starts. He boasted the league’s second-lowest earned run average (ERA) at 3.29 and struck out a team-best 57 while walking only 20 in 101.1 innings pitched. Holbrooks was also named the 2009 Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year.
Franklin, in his first season with the Lions, earned third-team honors as a relief pitcher. The junior right-hander and native of Oneanta, Ala., tied Stephen F. Austin’s Richard Folmer for the Southland Conference lead in saves with 12 while netting a 5-2 record and a team second-best 24 relief appearances in 2009. In addition, Franklin saw at bats in 37 games, including 35 starts, as a utility infielder. He posted a .261 batting average (35-for-134) and had 10 extra-base hits while driving in 18 runs. Franklin also received all-conference honorable mention. Prior to his transfer to the Hammond, La., campus last fall, Franklin posted a 2.86 ERA and hit for a .370 average with nine home runs, 13 doubles and 42 RBI as a sophomore at Jefferson State Community College, earning all-state, all-region and all-conference tournament honors.
Other Southland Conference student-athletes earning All-America honors in 2009 include Texas State first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, a second-team Louisville Slugger All-American and second-team CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American, and McNeese State senior Ryan Brauninger, a second-team CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic All-American. Players earning Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American honors Lamar pitcher Eric Harrington, Northwestern State pitcher Chad Sheppard, McNeese State outfielder Lee Orr and Texas State outfielder Tyler Sibley. Harrington was also named a NCBWA Freshman All-American on Monday.