Cullowhee, N.C. – Western Carolina freshman shortstop Pascanel Ferreras was named to the 2021 Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-American team, powered by Diamond Sports, the publication announced today.
 
Ferreras is the eighth Catamount to earn Freshman All-America status from Collegiate Baseball since 1991 – and the fifth freshman under head coach Bobby Moranda. He was the only representative from the Southern Conference on the Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America squad.
 
Ferreras added the Freshman All-American honor to his litany of postseason accolades that included being named second-team All-Southern Conference at shortstop and selected to the SoCon’s All-Freshman team. He additionally garnered SoCon All-Tournament team plaudits after leading WCU to the championship game with seven hits including five for extra bases with three homers and 10 RBI at Fluor Field.
 
A product of Stone Mountain, Ga., and Parkview High, Ferreras finished his rookie collegiate season with a .329 batting average over 49 games, collecting 70 base hits including 11 doubles, two triples, and a team-leading 16 home runs, the second-most in the Southern Conference. He scored 56 runs to finish second on the Catamount squad while his team-best 56 RBI and 133 total bases led the conference. He ranked 38th nationally with a 1.14 RBI per game average.
 
Equally as impressive for Ferreras was his performance in the field. Starting every game at shortstop, Ferreras recorded 129 assists and 75 putouts while turning a SoCon-leading 38 double-plays helping the Catamounts rank ninth nationally with a 0.96 double-plays per game average.
 
Ferreras is expected to play this summer with the Yarmouth-Denis Red Sox of the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League which opens its altered 2021 season on June 20.
 
A combined 97 freshmen nationwide were honored with the list including 18 starting pitchers, 11 relief pitchers, and 68 position players. Selections were made by nominations from school media relations/sports information offices as well as respective conference offices.

Full release from Collegiate Baseball:http://baseballnews.com/collegiate-baseball-freshmen-all-americans-3/
 
WCU’s Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-America Selections:
1991 – Phillip Grundy
1996 – Chris Moore
2005 – Steven Strausbaugh
2009 – Ross Heffley
2012 – Jacob Hoyle
2014 – Bryan Sammons
2018 – Justice Bigbie
2021 – Pascanel Ferreras