LEXINGTON, Ky. — Sawyer Carroll and Collin Cowgill have earned their fourth All-America selection, as Baseball America tabbed Carroll to the first-team and Cowgill to the third-team, it was announced on Thursday.
The honor is the fourth consecutive first-team All-America selection for Carroll, who remains a consensus first-team selection. Cowgill was named a first-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, as well as collecting second-team honors from Louisville Slugger and Rivals.com. The outfield duo also earned All-Southeastern Conference first-team honors in a voting of the coaches.
Carroll, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound right-fielder, had a prolific offensive campaign for Kentucky, ranking among the SEC and NCAA leaders in nearly every offensive category. Carroll led the SEC with a .419 average and 83 RBI, ranking second in slugging (.782), second in on-base percentage (.514), fifth in runs scored (69), third in hits (98), second in doubles (22), fifth in home runs (19), second in total bases (183) and sixth in walks (44). Carroll, a senior from Henryetta, Okla., exited UK as a third-round draft pick of the San Diego Padres, walking away as the career record-holder in batting average (.386).
Cowgill, a five-tool outfielder from Lexington, has a monster season in his fourth year at Kentucky after redshirting the 2007 season due to injury. Cowgill joined Carroll among the SEC leaders, hitting for the .361 average, good for ninth in the SEC. Cowgill ranked fifth in slugging (.687), sixth in on-base percentage (.483), second in runs scored (80), 11th in RBI (60), fifth in home runs (19), sixth in total bases (160), fourth in walks (49) and fourth in stolen bases (23). Cowgill added seven outfield assists in 2008, throwing five out as runners trying to score from second base on a single.
Cowgill, a fifth-round 2008 MLB Draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks, will be reporting to the Yakima Bears (Yakima, Wash.), of the Class A Short-Season Northwest League. Yakima opens its season on June 17.
With Carroll and Cowgill earning first-team recognition in 2008, it marked the first time in the 104-year history of the program that UK had first-team All-Americans in three consecutive years (Ryan Strieby, 2006; Sean Coughlin, 2007). It was the first time in school annals that UK placed two players on the first team in the same year, and entering 2008, Kentucky had only five first-team All-America selections in the history of the program.
