May, Rutledge Named to NCBWA All-American Team
12/22/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Dec. 22, 2008
DALLAS, Texas - Alabama junior Brandon May and sophomore Josh Rutledge were named to the 2009 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason All-American Team. May and Rutledge were second-team selections by the NCBWA.
"Brandon and Josh are certainly deserving of this honor," Alabama head coach Jim Wells said. "They both had an exceptional year last year, and we hope they can continue that success this season and help our team be successful. We feel like this has a chance to be a pretty good team with a lot of veteran players like May and Rutledge."
May has played in 112 games in his UA career and earned 104 starts. He has played in 87 consecutive games, the longest active streak on the team. He owns a .328 (131 for 400) batting average with nine home runs and 63 RBI. He is expected to hit in the middle of talented Alabama lineup this spring and has worked at both corner infield and outfield positions this fall. He was a 2008 first-team All-SEC selection after hitting .365 (92 for 252) with nine home runs and 50 RBI in 62 games. He led the Tide with four, 4-hit games, 18 doubles and 31 multi-hit games as a sophomore.
Rutledge is coming off a stellar freshman season that earned him freshman All-America and All-SEC honors. He hit .369 (99 for 268) last year to become the second freshman in school history to lead the Tide in hitting, joining David Magadan, who turned in a UA freshman record .389 batting average in 1981. Rutledge also led the team in hits (99), runs scored (62), multi-hit games (31) and stolen bases (16). He wrapped up the regular season with an SEC-leading 91 hits and led the league with 51 hits in 30 conference games. His .406 SEC batting average was second to South Carolina's Justin Smaok, a first-round draft pick of the Texas Rangers.
Alabama was one of 11 schools with multiple players on the NCBWA preseason All-American squad. Miami (Fla.), North Carolina and UC Irvine led the way with three each, followed by Alabama, Arizona State, Elon, Georgia Southern, Louisville, Missouri State, Tennessee and Texas-San Antonio with two each.
The Crimson Tide was one of seven SEC schools with representation on the team and joins Tennessee as the only SEC team with multiple selections. Georgia, Florida, LSU, Mississippi and Vanderbilt each placed one player on the team.
Alabama will open the 2009 season with a three-game series against Southeast Missouri State, beginning Friday, Feb. 20 at 6:35 p.m. at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. The Crimson Tide will open practice for the 2009 season on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2009.
