NEW ORLEANS – Little Rock's Ryan Scott and South Alabama's Kevin Hill were named Louisville Slugger First Team All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball on Thursday morning the organization announced while Texas Stats's Tanner Hill was recognized by being named to the Third Team.
Scott earned First Team All-American honors after posting a record-breaking season with Little Rock. He broke the Trojans' single-season records for hits (94), RBIs (66), batting average (.435) and total bases (154) while also breaking the program's all-time record for doubles (44).
Scott was named the Sun Belt Conference's Student-Athlete of the Year and took All-Sun Belt First Team honors after leading the conference in seven different offensive categories during the regular season and earned Sun Belt Student-Athlete of the Week on three different occasions. Scott is also in the running for several other national awards as he was named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and the Gregg Olson Award. He was also placed on USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List in April.
Scott's First Team honor is the first of its kind in Little Rock program history as all previous All-Americans were either Second or Third Team selections.
Hill (8-1) was one of six starting pitchers named to the first team, and was the only Sun Belt Conference pitcher named to the list. He was voted the 2016 SBC Pitcher of the Year, marking the first time in the league's history that a player has twice earned the award, as well as first-team all-SBC. Hill led the conference in strikeouts for the second consecutive season, and also led the league in innings pitched.
He has tossed four complete games this year while also combining for one shutout. Hill enters this weekend's NCAA Tallahassee (Fla.) Regional ranked fourth in career strikeouts (325), and needs just three to pass former Jaguar All-American Mike Zimmerman (327) for third on the all-time list. In 15 starts this season, Hill has struck out 125 batters and issued 29 walks in 117 1/3 innings pitched and recorded a 2.53 ERA.
Last season, Hill earned second-team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and third-team All-America accolades from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings. He is the first Jaguar pitcher in the program's 50-plus year history to earn All-American honors in back-to-back seasons.
TXST's Hill, a San Marcos native, was one of just seven first basemen in all of NCAA Division I Baseball to be recognized as an All-American, garnering third-team honors on the All-American team for his prolific season. Hill, a Sun Belt First-Team All-Conference selection this season, finished the year hitting .321 with 77 hits, 18 doubles and a conference-leading 15 home runs. He knocked in 42 RBIs with 43 runs scored. The senior led the team in batting average, hits, RBIs, runs, homers, doubles and slugging percentage.
On the national level, Hill ranked 29th in home runs, 30th in total bases and 41st in home runs per game. He finished in the top 100 in slugging percentage and doubles.
The first baseman also made an impact in Texas State’s all-time record book. He finished fourth on the all-time home runs list with 28. He is top 10 in total bases with 289 and ranks in the top 15 all-time in hits, RBIs, doubles and at bats. His 2016 season ranks in the top 10 in home runs, doubles and total bases all-time at Texas State.