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Sophomore
Pitcher Joe Kelly |
(December
13, 2007) - UC Riverside sophomore pitcher Joe Kelly was named
to the pre-season All-American third team by the National
Baseball Writers Association Wednesday afternoon.
Kelly had one of the best freshman campaigns in UCR history
last season serving as the team’s closer. He led the
Highlanders with a 1.32 earned run average and six saves after
posting a 3-1 record in 22 appearances and struck out 19 batters
in 27.1 innings. Following the season, Kelly was named to
three different Freshman All-American teams (Collegiate Baseball,
Ping!, and Rivals.com) along with earning the Easton Big West
Conference Freshman Pitcher of the Year award and a place
on the Big West All-Conference first team. Kelly also was
selected to play for Team USA this past summer.
It is the second consecutive season that the Highlanders enter
a season with a pre-season All-American. Last year pitcher
James Simmons also received pre-season honors and went on
to lead UCR to their first ever Big West Conference Championship
including a trip to the NCAA tournament and then was taken
as the 26th overall pick in the first round of the Major League
Baseball draft by the Oakland A’s.
The
defending Big West Champion Highlanders open their 2008 season
with a four-game series at the UCR Baseball Complex on February
22-25 against the University of Washington.
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