Johnson, Schmidt & Destino Earn NCBWA Preseason All-America honors

Jan. 31, 2017

2017 NCBWA Preseason All-America Team

Columbia, S.C. — South Carolina junior right-handed pitchers Tyler Johnson and Clarke Schmidt and junior Alex Destino earned Preseason All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), as announced on Tuesday afternoon. Johnson and Schmidt were first-team selections with Destino earning second-team honors. South Carolina opens the 2017 season on Friday, Feb. 17 hosting UNCG.

Schmidt earned third-team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA last year after going 9-5 with a 3.40 ERA. He struck out 129 batters to 27 walks in 111.1 innings pitched with opponents hitting .248 against him. Schmidt’s 129 strikeouts are the second-highest among returning pitchers from last season in Division I baseball.

Last season, Johnson went 3-2 with a 2.42 ERA and had nine saves. Johnson struck out 59 to just eight walks in 52.0 innings in 29 relief appearances. Eight of Johnson’s nine saves were in league play, the most by any SEC pitcher. Johnson pitched on USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team over the summer.

Destino is South Carolina’s leading returning hitter as he hit .321 last season with 10 homers and 59 RBI in 60 games with 59 starts.

Five Gamecocks have received Preseason All-America honors this year. Schmidt was also honored by Collegiate Baseball and Perfect Game with junior right-hander Tyler Johnson a preseason first-team selection by Perfect Game, senior left-hander Josh Reagan honored by Collegiate Baseball and junior right-hander Wil Crowe a third-team choice by Baseball America.

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South Carolina won the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship in 2010 and 2011 at the College World Series. South Carolina has made 11 College World Series appearances including six times in the last 15 years. In those 11 appearances, the Gamecocks are 32-20 for a .615 winning percentage, that is sixth-best among winning percentage leaders in CWS history. South Carolina is one of three schools in the nation to have reached at least 12 NCAA Super Regionals since 2000 and has the most NCAA Super Regional appearances of the 14 SEC schools since 2000. In addition, the Gamecocks own the second-highest win total in Division I baseball since 2000 (791-332 record) and more conference wins than any SEC team since 2000 (308-198 record). Recently, South Carolina is one of only four schools in the nation to host a NCAA Regional in six of the last seven years.