By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – There's always time to go back and recognize those players that make a team special and put together seasons that are just on a completely different level. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association took its turn in honoring three members of the Tennessee Tech baseball team Wednesday as it released its All-America teams.
The NCBWA tabbed both Daniel Miles and Brandon Thomasson to the All-America First Team and named junior Dylan Bosheers to the All-America Second Team. The honors marked the second First Team honors of the year for both Miles and Thomasson and the second Second Team accolades for Bosheers.
The Golden Eagles stand as the only team in the nation with multiple position players named to the First Team, as only 11 were selected this season. Tech was also just on one of two teams to have multiple players named First-Team All-American, joining one-time No. 1 ranked Oregon State.
An outfielder from Royal Palm Beach, Fla., Thomasson put together one of the greatest displays of power in a single season in OVC history in 2014, crushing a league-best 22 home runs while leading the nation with 76 RBI and 46 extra base hits. He finished the year just one long ball off the national pace set by Collegiate Baseball newspaper's National Player of the Year, A.J. Reed of Kentucky. The slugger also ranked second only to Reed in terms of slugging percentage, racking up a mark of .721 in 58 games.
Thomasson broke the single-season school record for RBI while finishing just one base shy of tying the single-season mark for total bases. He tallied 176 on the year, ripping team highs of 20 doubles, four triples, and the 22 bombs. He scored 60 runs while totaling 82 hits for an average of .336. Thomasson was drafted in the ninth round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft in early June, going to the Kansas City Royals.
Behind a monster season at both the plate and in the field, Miles became the first Golden Eagle ever to garner All-American nods in two different seasons. The Pascagoula, Miss. native took home All-American Honorable Mention from CollegeBaseballInsider.com as a junior before bursting onto the national scene this season. Maintaining massive numbers all year, he earned a spot on the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List as well as being named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy.
Miles started 58 games at the hot corner for the Golden Eagles, leading the team with a .380 batting average and 67 runs scored, a mark that ranked second nationally. The third baseman also ranked in the top 10 in Division I baseball with 90 hits on the year, the third highest single-season total in Tech history. He wrapped up his 2014 campaign with 17 doubles, a triple, and 11 home runs, driving in 54 while recording an on base percentage of .481. Miles was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays in the eighth round of this year's summer draft.
One of just 10 semifinalists still remaining on the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Watch List, Bosheers took home his first second All-American nod as a Second-Teamer after batting an impressive .368 with 86 hits and 66 runs scored (third in the nation) in 59 games. Just a junior, he shattered his previous season-best mark of six home runs by clubbing 11 in 2014, driving in 56 runs to go along with a slugging percentage of .577.
A native of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., Bosheers played spectacular defense on his way to being named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, making just nine errors all year for a fielding percentage of .965. He will also become the first Tennessee Tech player to be invited to play in the Cape Cod Baseball League, the premier wood-bat, summer league in all of collegiate baseball.
To view all of the 2014 NCBWA All-America selections, CLICK HERE.
