A quartet of University of Louisville baseball standouts received All-America recognition from the American Baseball Coaches Association on Saturday. Drew Ellis and Brendan McKay were named to the first team, Lincoln Henzman was a second team selection and Devin Hairston was a third team honoree.
McKay has paced the way during a busy awards season for the Cardinals as the junior lefthander and first baseman has accumulated five national player of the year honors as well as a third straight John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year award. Both Ellis and Henzman were named to their sixth different All-America teams with Saturday’s honor, while Hairston was named to the ABCA All-America team for the second consecutive season.
Introduced this week as the 31st recipient of the Dick Howser Trophy, McKay has a 10-3 record with a 2.34 ERA and a school record 140 strikeouts in 104.0 innings on the mound this season. McKay, who became the highest MLB Draft selection in school history last week going fourth to the Tampa Bay Rays, has accumulated a 31-10 record with a 2.15 ERA and 385 strikeouts, the most ever for a Louisville pitcher. At the plate, the 2017 ACC Player of the Year has a .343 batting average, 17 home runs, 13 doubles, 56 RBIs and a .464 on-base percentage in 60 starts as a hitter this season. In 179 career starts and 186 total appearances as a hitter, the Darlington, Pennsylvania native has a .328 career batting average with 27 home runs, 46 doubles and 131 RBIs.
Ellis leads the Cardinals with a .367 batting average, 20 home runs, 18 doubles, 61 RBI and .729 slugging percentage. The Jeffersonville, Indiana native has started all 62 games this season splitting his time between first base and third base. Ellis was an All-ACC First Team selection and was chosen as a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy. He was also selected as the National Player of the Month in April by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association after hitting .455 (30-for-66) in 19 games with five doubles, one triple and eight homers, 22 RBI and a .532 on-base percentage.
Henzman, who was named as the 2017 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year on Saturday morning, ranks second in the nation with 16 saves to go with his 3-0 record, 1.77 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 35.2 innings pitched and 25 total relief appearances. Thirteen of the Lexington, Kentucky native’s 16 saves came against ACC foes, while opposing hitters are batting just .164 against him this season. The 16 saves for Henzman rank as the third most in a season by a Louisville player, while his 19 career saves are also third all-time.
Selected as the ACC Defensive Player of the Year, Hairston has performed at a high level at shortstop this season posting a .987 fielding percentage with just three errors in 233 chances. He has registered 87 putouts to go with 143 assists and has had a hand in turning 26 double plays. The Lexington, Kentucky native, who is a two-time All-ACC standout and an All-American selection in 2016, has a .306 batting average with three home runs, 51 RBI and 16 doubles while starting all 62 games this season.
The No. 7 national seed Cardinals (52-10) will continue their season at the 2017 College World Series against Texas A&M on Sunday at 2 p.m., ET at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha.
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Garett Wall
Assistant Sports Information Director
