D1BASEBALL.COM FRESHMAN ALL-AMERICA TEAM

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford freshman pitcher Samuel Strickland earned his fourth Freshman All-America honor when D1Baseball.com named him to its first team Friday afternoon.
 
Strickland was one of five starting pitchers named to the first team. He was joined by Kevin Abel from Oregon State, Tanner Burns from Auburn, Patrick Fredrickson from Minnesota and Zach Pettway from UCLA.
 
Already this postseason, Strickland has received First-Team Freshman All-America honors from both the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Collegiate Baseball, and second team accolades by Perfect Game/Rawlings.
  
Strickland, the Bulldogs' talented starting pitcher, was named the Southern Conference's Freshman of the Year earlier this season. He became just the third Samford player to be named SoCon freshman of the year in school history.
 
Samford's hard-throwing left-hander went 8-2 with an ERA of 2.33 and a team-best 87 strikeouts in his rookie campaign. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Strickland held opposing hitters to a SoCon-best .177 batting average, ranking second in the league with five wins in conference play. Strickland only allowed a total of 15 walks over 81 innings of work.
 
Earlier this season, he was also named SoCon Pitcher of the Week four times, including May 14 after throwing a complete-game, four-hit win against Western Carolina on May 12. Against SoCon opponents, Strickland went 5-1 with a 2.01 ERA and 37 strikeouts.
 
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