Tyson Neighbors received a pair of All-America accolades, as the K-State reliever was voted to the College Baseball Foundation All-American First Team while also earning Second Team recognition by Baseball America.
Neighbors, a NCBWA Stopper of the Year Finalist, becomes just the second Wildcat in school history to claim five All-America accolades in the same season. He joins former K-State star and CBF Pitcher of the Year Finalist A.J. Morris, who received six following his stellar season in 2009 and was later drafted in the fourth round by the Washington Nationals.
Going 5-1 with a league-high 11 saves on the season, Neighbors posted a 1.85 ERA over 25 appearances out of the bullpen for the Wildcats. He struck out 86 batters over just 48 2/3 innings and posted an average of 15.9 strikeouts per nine innings.
The Royse City, Texas native was second on the team in strikeouts behind weekend starter Owen Boerema and held opponents to a .135 batting average.
He was named a Big 12 Pitcher of the Week in addition to his All-Big 12 First Team selection. Neighbors broke the program's TrackMan-era pitch velocity record at 99-mph in the series opening win against Texas Tech.
For more information on the All-American teams or the College Baseball Foundation, visit www.collegebaseballfoundation.com.
Neighbors and Wildcats' third baseman Kaelen Culpepper are playing for the Stars during the Stars vs. Stripes series at the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Training Camp in Cary, N.C.
In game three of the series, Neighbors punched out three of the four batters he faced during his shutout inning while Culpepper split action at third and second base, going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in.
The series finale between the Stars and Stripes is scheduled for tonight at 5 p.m. CT. The game can be viewed at usabaseball.watch.
The Collegiate