By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Despite seeing his first campaign in the purple and gold cut short due to the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent cancellation of all but 15 games during the 2020 season, Tennessee Tech's Brett Roberts was recognized as one of the best rookie baseball players in the country, earning Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American honors.

The shortstop showed off his skills both with the bat and glove while making 15 starts at the position, slashing .290/.371/.516 in a team-high 62 at-bats. He tied for the team lead in RBI (13), walks (seven) and stolen bases (three) while leading the squad with 13 runs scored. His four home runs ranked second on the team as well.

A native of Atlanta, Ga., Roberts smashed two of his four round-trippers at No. 12-ranked NC State and capped off the short 2020 campaign with a season-best three hits and five RBI against Lipscomb.

Roberts joins an exclusive club of eight past Tech rookies to earn Freshman All-American honors, including the likes of Zach Stephens (2011), Ryan Flick (2015), Chase Chambers (2015), Kevin Strohschein (2016) and Ethan Roberts (2016), each of whom went on to claim multiple All-American accolades during their careers. He also joined Tech's first two Freshman All-American honorees Russell Stoops (1992) and Cole Helms (2002), as well as current teammate John Dyer (2019).

Photo by Thomas Corhern