6/13/2018 baseball Edit

4 Hogs earn All-America honors

Heston Kjerstad has had an incredible freshman season.

Andrew Hutchinson • HawgBeat

Managing Editor

FAYETTEVILLE -- A pair of Arkansas players were named to the NCBWA Freshman All-America teams and two others were tabbed to D1Baseball's All-America teams, both of which were announced this week.

Third baseman Casey Martin and left fielder Heston Kjerstad were selected as first-team Freshman All-Americans, while Blaine Knight earned first-team All-America honors and second baseman Carson Shaddy made the third team.

Martin and Kjerstad have been arguably the best freshman duo in the country this season, as well as two of the best in school history.

Their names are already sprinkled throughout the UA freshman record book. They rank first and second in hits (81 - Kjerstad, 77 - Martin) and total bases (137 - Kjerstad, 128 - Martin) and are close to holding that distinction for home runs.

Kjerstad broke Zack Cox's record of 13 homers set in 2009 by hitting his 14th against South Carolina in last weekend's super regional. Martin is right behind him with 13.

The other freshman records Kjerstad has already broken are runs (61; previous was 53) and hit by pitches (18; previous was 12). He has also tied the sacrifice fly record with seven and is two RBIs shy of breaking that record.

Neither player will break Jeff King's freshman-record .383 batting average, but both still hit for average, too. Martin leads the team with at .344 and Kjerstad ranks third at .340.

Knight is the ace of Arkansas' pitching staff. He is the only pitcher in the country with at least 12 wins and no losses, plus he has an impressive 2.84 ERA.

With 92 strikeouts this season, Knight now has 234 in his career. That ranks fifth in UA history.

A fifth-year senior from Fayetteville, Shaddy has become the heart and soul of the Razorbacks. His .341 batting average and 52 RBIs rank second on the team and his 13 home runs are one off the team lead.

None of his homers were bigger than the three-run shot he hit in the first inning against South Carolina on Monday, which propelled Arkansas to a 14-4 win and a spot in the College World Series.