WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senior catcher Sean Coughlin, a 13th round MLB Draft selection of the Arizona Diamondbacks last Friday, has been named a first-team All-American, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association announced.
?Sean Coughlin has meant a tremendous amount to the Kentucky baseball program the last two years,? Kentucky head coach John Cohen said. ?His hard work, leadership, and drive for excellence are characteristics of the type of student-athletes we want to represent the University of Kentucky. While Sean may be an outstanding hitter catcher, his leadership in the field served an extremely vital role to the success of the UK baseball team the last two years.?
A native of Morrison, Colo., Coughlin led a dangerous UK lineup in several categories during his senior year, including home runs (13) and RBI (73). Coughlin led the Southeastern Conference in RBI in 2007 despite playing in just 54 games, 12 games fewer then the next hitter on the RBI list, USC acclaimed slugger Justin Smoak (72 RBI). Coughlin?s 73 RBI also rank as second best in the 103-year history of UK baseball, just four short of the school record (77 RBI) set by 2006 SEC Player of the Year Ryan Strieby. The backstop swung the stick for a stellar .344 average, ranking fourth on the team, in addition to reaching on 16 two-baggers and three triples.
After transferring to Kentucky from Central Arizona College before the 2006 season, Coughlin became a fixture in a potent UK lineup, helping to lead the Wildcats to its first SEC Championship in school history a year ago. In 2006, while hitting in a lineup featuring future top-five round MLB Draft selections Strieby and John Shelby, Coughlin finished second on the team with a .325 average, rocketed 17 home runs, and tallied 55 RBI.
On Friday, Coughlin was selected in the 13th round of the 2007 MLB Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks, marking the third time in his career to be drafted. Coughlin was one of five Wildcats and two signees to be drafted on Friday.
A year ago, Coughlin was joined by Strieby as UK?s first All-America selections since 1999. Coughlin was named a third-team All-American in 2006 by the NCBWA and a second-team All-American by the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Strieby earned several All-America nods, including a first-team NCBWA selection in 2006.
Coughlin becomes just the 15th Wildcat in the 103-year history of the program to receive All-America recognition, including becoming the first UK player to earn the honor twice in his career.
2007 NCBWA ALL-AMERICA TEAMS
FIRST TEAM
Pos. Name, School Cl. BA G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBI
C Sean Coughlin, Kentucky Sr. 344 54 221 53 76 16-3-13 73
1B Brett Wallace, Arizona State So. .423 60 253 75 107 17-5-16 78
2B Tony Thomas, Jr.Florida State Jr. .430 62 258 91 111 33-6-11 50
3B Pedro Alvarez, Vanderbilt So. .386 66 272 76 105 21-3-18 68
SS Todd Frazier, Rutgers Jr. .379 60 247 87 93 24-2-22 65
OF Kellen Kulbacki, James Madison Jr. 398 53 191 56 76 15-1-19 49
OF Kyle Russell, Texas So. .336 63 223 68 75 11-5-28 71
OF Robbie Widlansky, Fla. Atlantic Jr. .433 58 240 61 104 24-1-15 69
DH Bobby Verbick, Sam Houston Jr. .370 64 254 53 94 23-5-14 81
UTIL Joe Savery, Rice Jr. .360 66 258 55 93 18-2-5 57
Pitching: 10-1, 2.78 ERA, 17 G, 87.1 IP, 75 H, 38 B, 57 SO, 0 SV
Pitchers Pos. Name School Cl. W-L ERA G IP H BB SO SV
SP Brian Matusz, San Diego So. 10-3 2.85 18 123 198 37 163 0
SP David Price, Vanderbilt Jr. 11-1 2.63 18 133.1 95 31 194 0
SP Adam Mills, Charlotte Sr. 14-2 1.01 18 142.2 93 27 141 0
SP Jacob Thompson, Virginia So. 11-0 1.50 17 114 79 32 101 0
RP Andrew Carignan, North Carolina Jr. 2-1 1.36 35 34 53 24 60 15
RP Luke Prihoda, Sam Houston State Sr. 7-3 1.61 35 72.2 54 11 65 18
SECOND TEAM
Pos. Name, School Cl. BA G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBI C Matt Wieters, Georgia Tech Jr. .358 57 218 42 78 17-2-10 59
C Edward Easley, Mississippi State Jr. .363 58 234 58 85 15-0-12 63
1B Matt LaPorta, Florida Sr. .402 52 169 60 68 10-0-20 52
2B Tyler Mach, Oklahoma State Jr. .386 63 259 60 100 24-1-16 81
3B Greg Sexton, William & Mary Jr. .455 54 209 52 95 18-3-10 61
SS Brandon Turner, Mississippi St. Fr. .397 53 199 45 79 12-1-2 44
OF Maurice Davis, Alcorn State Jr. .393 45 145 52 57 11-3-16 58
OF Grant Desme, Cal Poly Jr. .405 50 195 54 79 17-1-15 53
OF Corey Brown, Oklahoma State Jr. .335 63 227 82 76 15-5-22 71
OF Dominic de la Osa, Vanderbilt Jr. .378 66 249 65 94 23-2-20 62
DH Kiel Roling, Arizona State So. .373 55 185 56 63 10-0-15 63
UTIL Sean Doolittle, Virginia Jr. .301 59 226 41 68 14-1-7 53 Pitching: 8-3, 2.40 ERA, 16 G, 82.1 IP, 76 H, 21 BB, 69 SO, 0 SV
Pitchers
Pos. Name School Cl. W-L ERA G IP H BB SO SV
SP Bryan Henry, Florida State Sr. 14-2 2.60 18 117.2 103 27 117 0
SP Raymond Guilmet, Arizona So. 12-2 1.87 18 135 100 34 146 0
SP Adrian Alaniz, Texas Jr. 12-3 2.59 19 104.1 81 31 91 0
SP Nick Schmidt, Arkansas Jr. 11-3 2.69 18 124 84 51 111 0
RP Andy Masten, Creighton Sr. 4-3 2.02 34 49 39 7 47 16
RP Matt German, Northern Illinois Sr. 5-2 1.76 34 46 31 16 56 13
THIRD TEAM (Ties in voting)
Pos. Name, School Cl. BA G AB R H 2B-3B-HR RBI
C Jonathon Lucroy, La.-Lafayette Jr. .360 62 264 56 95 19-3-18 68
1B Dustin Ackley, North Carolina Fr. .416 66 267 64 111 19-3-7 66
1B Trey Sutton Southern Miss Jr. .368 57 239 69 88 18-3-8 38
2B Logan Johnson, Louisville Sr. .364 68 253 73 92 27-2-13 59
3B Blake Stouffer, Texas A&M Jr. .398 67 256 58 102 23-5-12 85
SS Derek Shunk, Villanova Jr. .357 54 210 49 75 12-3-2 34
OF Emeel Salem, Alabama Sr. .351 57 231 61 81 7-3-7 32
OF Brad McElroy, Charlotte Jr. .401 61 242 65 97 26-2-11 68
OF Brian Rike, Louisiana Tech Jr. .346 59 217 74 75 14-2-20 66
OF Justin Jenkins, West Virginia Sr. .372 51 215 46 80 21-3-11 47
OF Ryan Lavarnway, Yale So. .467 43 150 33 70 17-1-14 55
DH Phil Disher, South Carolina Jr. .328 64 235 40 77 16-1-15 63
DH Aaron Luna, Rice So. .315 62 222 53 70 15-3-11 61
UTIL Zach Putnam, Michigan So. .330 61 224 38 74 14-2-8 59
Pitching: 8-5, 3.87 ERA, 16 G, 102.1 IP, 94 H, 38 BB, 87 SO, 0 SV
Pitchers
Pos. Name School Cl. W-L ERA G IP H BB SO SV
SP Barry Enright, Pepperdine Jr. 12-5 1.99 18 131.1 117 14 91 0
SP Wes Roemer, Cal State Fullerton Jr. 11-6 3.24 19 136 137 22 143 0
SP Nick Chigges, Coll. Of Charleston Sr. 11-1 3.52 16 107.1 98 38 112 0
SP Corey Kluber, Stetson Jr. 12-2 2.05 17 114 90 36 117 0
SP Kyle Nicholson Texas A&M Sr. 11-3 2.25 25 124 96 21 99 4
SP Scott Gorgen, UC Irvine So. 12-2 2.68 20 127.2 109 37 106 0
RP Casey Weathers, Vanderbilt Sr. 12-2 2.37 31 49.1 25 21 75 7
RP Eryk McConnell, NC State Jr. 2-1 1.06 28 52.1 43 11 35 11
RP Daniel Edwards, Kansas State Jr. 3-0 2.27 23 35.2 22 13 49 11
UK All-Americans
1949 Dom Fucci, C 1961 Dickie Parsons, SS 1976 Jimmy Sherrill, OF 1981 Jeff Keener, OF 1987 Terry Shumpert, 2B 1988 Chris Estep, OF 1991 Rick Norton, 3B 1991 Mike Harris, 1B 1993 Brad Hindersman, DH 1994 Jeff Abbott, OF 1994 Chad Green, OF 1999 John Wilson, C 2006 Ryan Strieby, 1B 2006 Sean Coughlin, C 2007 Sean Coughlin, C
