Four Anteaters Earn All-Big West Recognition
June 01, 2016 | Baseball
IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine's brightest fit right in amongst the all-conference members in one of the toughest conferences in the nation with four 'Eaters making the grade.
First-teamers were sophomore Cole Kreuter and junior Adam Alcantara with seniors Elliot Surrey, second team, and Mitchell Holland, honorable mention, rounding out the UCI quartet.
Kreuter filled the first team at second base, the first Anteater second baseman to be honored since 2012, and the first to make the first team since Cody Cipriano in 2007. He hit .284 for the season including .282 in conference games powered by 29 hits to lead all at his position. He even put up a stretch of seven consecutive games where he had multiple hits. On top of it, he was a run-producer driving home 26 runs and scoring 31 of his own.
Alcantara really blazed a path to his first team award down the stretch as he went on a 16-game hit streak to bat .337 overall with an amazing .393 average in Big West games. He drove in 19 runs in Big West play as well and struck out only 19 times over the entire season. His honor is the third for an Anteater outfielder over the last four seasons, and comes right on the heels of picking up Big West Player of the Week honors to finish out the regular season.
Much like his first-team teammates, Surrey made his first All-Big West appearance. UCI did not get a pitcher on the 2015 squad, a first since UCI had brought back baseball, however he continues the streak of at least one second-teamer UCI has produced in each of the last 15 seasons. He kept his ERA at 3.65 winning four games for the 'Eaters, and was one of two pitchers to toss a pair of complete games in Big West play earning 44 of his 65 strikeouts in his eight conference starts which included two 10- strikeout efforts with one vaulting him to his first Big West Pitcher of the Week achievement.
The final honoree was the only repeat winning in first baseball Mitchell Holland. He returned on the honorable mention squad after making the second team in 2015. The senior really shone on defense where he led all infielder with a .996 fielding percentage while adding 37 assists to lead all first basemen, and committed just one error in conference play. He backed it up on the offensive end as well hitting .300 with 32 RBI and proved to be one of the toughest hitters to strike out in the Big West.
This marks the fourth consecutive season UC Irvine has put multiple first-teamers on the squad. Coach Gillespie has now earned 58 all-conference players over his nine seasons.
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