Starkville, Miss. Sonny Meade was named to the ninth annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Pro-Line Athletic pre-2009 All-America Third Team Tuesday, joining five other Southern Conference players to earn that accolade. Meade hit .393 last season with 49 runs scored and 46 RBI.
The six honorees from the Southern Conference gives the SoCon more members of the preseason All-America team than any other mid-major conference. Meade is only one of three players from the State of South Carolina to be honored.
While the Olympics and other international baseball events dominated much of the 2008 baseball scene, the preseason All-America team features many of the standouts from the various “dream” teams.
First team pitcher Stephen Strasburg of San Diego State was prominent on the mound staffs of both the U.S. Olympic team (composed of mainly top professional baseball stalwarts) as well as the U.S. National Team, which finished 24-0 and set a national team summer earned run average of 1.87.
While pitching numbers reflect the depth and star power of 2009 college competition, all three units are composed of teams which could make runs at NCAA regional and national crowns.
There are 19 conferences and 43 different schools (the most in the nine-year annals of NCBWA preseason All-America choices) represented among the selections by the NCBWA preseason All-America committee.
Many of these preseason standouts will be nominated for the 23rd annual Dick Howser Trophy, presented by the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Area Chamber of Commerce and voted upon by the NCBWA membership. The Howser Trophy will be awarded on Saturday, June 13, 2009 prior to Game One of the NCAA College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.
Meade and The Citadel baseball team will kick off the 2009 season starting with a four-game series against Indiana State on Feb. 20, 2009 at 5 p.m. in Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park in Charleston.
For complete coverage of Bulldog Baseball, visit the official home of The Citadel Athletics at CitadelSports.com.
