Three state players earn Freshman All-American honors

A trio of Louisiana players earned Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American honors, Collegiate Baseball newspaper announced Wednesday.
Southeastern Louisiana shortstop Brennan Breaud, McNeese left-handed pitcher Bryan King and Louisiana-Lafayette pitcher Nick Lee all earned honors.
Breaud is the seventh player in Southeastern Louisiana University history to earn the honor.
The Norco native finished the season with a .293 batting average with seven doubles, one triple and one home run. He led the Southland Conference with 59 runs scored and drove in another 26.
Southeastern’s leader with 20 stolen bases, he helped the Lions to the sixth-most stolen bases in the nation (113). He walked 39 times and was hit by another seven pitches, helping him compile a .414 on-base percentage.
Breaud already has been named the Southland Conference Freshman of the Year.
He joins Cass Hargis (2008), Jordan Hymel (2010), Andro Čutura (2012), Mason Klotz (2013) and fellow teammates Jameson Fisher (2013) and Mac Sceroler (2015) as former Lions who have earned Freshman All-American distinction.
King, a Parker, Colorado, native, is the second Freshman All-American selection under the tutelage of Cowboy head coach Justin Hill.
The true freshman played an integral part in McNeese’s weekend rotation. He was 6-4 with a 3.69 ERA, which ranked second best on the team. In 14 starts, King worked 70.2 innings and surrendered 29 earned runs. He struck out 65 batters and walked 27.
King is McNeese’s seventh Freshman-All American all-time, joining Joe Provenzano, who was chosen to the team last season. McNeese now has had at least one baseball student-athlete named to the list in three of the last four seasons.
Lee, the Sun Belt Conference Freshman of the Year, finished the year with a team-best 7-1 record. In 87 innings, he posted a 3.31 ERA with 75 strikeouts. Lee held opponents to a .219 batting average while allowing only 27 walks.
“This is a great honor for our program and university,” Louisiana-Lafayette head baseball coach Tony Robichaux said in a university news release. “Anytime you can have someone recognized for their hard work and effort, it’s a good thing. This is baseball paying him back for all of the hard work and effort that he put in from when we got started in the fall throughout the season. Nick was able to play above his chronological age this year and really shored up our weekend rotation. He’s a guy that is only going to get better in our system, and I am really proud of what he was able to achieve this year.”
Lee’s selection marks the fourth straight year the Ragin’ Cajuns have had at least one Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American. He joins Blake Trahan (2013), Reagan Bazar (2014), Gunner Leger (2015) and Dylan Moore (2015) as Louisiana players honored in the last four seasons.
Lee finished the season ranked first in the Sun Belt in starts, fifth in wins and opponent’s batting average, seventh in strikeouts and ninth in innings pitched.
Collegiate Baseball’s 2016 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America team is headed by Freshman Co-Players of The Year Seth Beer of Clemson and Kevin Strohschein of Tennessee Tech, Freshman Pitcher of The Year Colton Eastman of Cal State Fullerton and Freshman Relief Pitcher of The Year Bryce Fehmel of Oregon State.
Beer, the Player of the Year in the Atlantic Coast Conference, hit .369 with 18 home runs, 13 doubles and 70 RBIs.
Strohschein hit .393 with 15 homers, 21 doubles and 73 RBIs.
Eastman posted an 8-3 record with a 2.24 ERA, 100 strikeouts and 20 walks in 100.2 innings in 16 appearances.
Fehmel was 10-1 with a 2.31 ERA, two saves and 51 strikeouts in 26 appearances that stretched across 70 innings.