Kral Named Third Team All-American by Ping!Baseball
CHARLESTON, S.C. - College of Charleston redshirt-sophomore C Rob Kral (Randolph, N.J.) has been named Third Team All-American by Ping!Baseball. Kral led the Cougars with 58 walks this season and batted .344 in 61 games.
Kral was recently selected by the Cincinnati Reds in the 16th round (487th pick overall) in the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Draft and was named to the 2010 Myrtle Beach Regional All-Tournament Team for his efforts last weekend. The catcher was also named All-Southern Conference First Team by the media and All-SoCon Second Team by the coaches this season.
To view the entire 2010 Ping!Baseball All-American Teams, click here.
Hobson Drafted, Named All-America
BOONE, N.C. ? Wednesday was a big day for Appalachian State University baseball second baseman Wes Hobson (Winston-Salem, N.C./North Forsyth). Just a couple of hours after he was named a third-team all-American by Ping!Baseball, the senior was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 40th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft (1,218th overall).
Hobson is Appalachian’s fourth all-American in the past four years and the ninth Mountaineer selected in the MLB Draft over the last three years. He is the second ASU player drafted this year ? the St. Louis Cardinals tabbed relief pitcher Chris Patterson (Laurinburg, N.C./Scotland County) in the 29th round on Tuesday evening.
Hobson finished his collegiate career as the most prolific hitter in Appalachian history. In 206 career games, he hit .362 and set ASU all-time records with 318 hits, 879 at-bats, 223 runs, 78 doubles and 504 total bases.
He enjoyed his most productive season as a senior this spring, winning the Southern Conference batting title with a .404 average and ranking among the conference leaders with 95 hits, a school-record 69 runs scored, 22 doubles, 11 home runs, 54 RBI, a .655 slugging percentage, .474 on-base percentage and 17 stolen bases.
Hobson capped his record-breaking season and career by leading the Mountaineers to three SoCon Tournament victories for the first time since 1991. He hit a tournament-best .600 (12-for-20) with three doubles, a triple, six walks, three stolen bases and four runs scored in five games. Despite not reaching the championship game, his 12 hits were the second-most in SoCon Tournament history, behind only the 14 banged out by Wofford’s Brandon Waring in 2007.
He played in 206 games at ASU, including a string of 186-consecutive starts at second base to close out his career. The only games he didn’t start at second base during his four-year collegiate career came when he missed 25 contests after suffering a wrist injury when hit by a pitch versus Elon as a freshman.
Hobson is the 15th all-American in ASU history and joins former teammates David Rubinstein (third team, 2007), Zach Quate (third team, 2009) and Isaac Harrow (honorable mention, 2009) in earning all-America recognition over the past four seasons. He is the 27th Mountaineer ever selected in the MLB Draft.
Wojciechowski Named Ping! Baseball Second Team All-American
Charleston, S.C. - Asher Wojciechowski collected another national award this week as he was named to the Ping! Baseball All-American Second Team.
The reigning Soutern Conference Pitcher of the Year became the highest draft pick in the history of The Citadel baseball program on Monday when he was selected by the Toronto Blue Jays with the 41st overall pick.
The junior hurler went 12-3 in 17 starts this season. He threw 125.2 innings this season with an ERA of 3.58.
The right-hander's 155 strikeouts are the most in Division I this season and third most in school history in a single season. The 12 wins in 2010 are tied for the most in school history. The Bulldog ace threw three complete games and had seven double-digit strikeout performances this season.
Wojciechowski was also named to Collegiate Baseball's All-American second team last week. He earned two SoCon Pitcher of the Week awards this season. Last summer, the Beaufort High School graduate pitched for the U.S. National Team and went 2-1 with an ERA of 2.18 in five apperances and 20.2 innings pitched with 29 strikeouts.
"Wojo" has a career mark of 20-7 with an ERA of 4.05 and 308 career strikeouts, the third most in school history.