With the 2015 baseball season quickly approaching, preseason recognitions have begun and FGCU saw both Mike Murray and Jake Noll selected as 2015 Louisville Slugger Pre-Season All-Americans. Both individuals were chosen as 2014 All-Americans by Louisville Slugger at the end of last season while Noll was tabbed the National Freshman Player of the Year.
“This is a great recognition for these two and well deserved,” head coach Dave Tollett said. “Obviously they both had a couple of the best seasons we’ve ever had here last year and both have been working hard this fall and into the winter to improve. We’re excited for the season to get rolling and having these guys help us take the next step.”
Murray (West Palm Beach, Fla./Forrest Hill HS), a Second Team Pre-Season pick, had arguably the greatest season any FGCU pitcher has ever had with a program record 13 wins and an A-Sun best 1.85 ERA to go with 79 strikeouts which also led the league. Murray became the fourth A-Sun Pitcher of the Year that FGCU has had. He joined the group of Richard Bleier (2008), Chris Sale (2010) and Ricky Knapp (2012), all of which are now playing professional baseball. He was also tabbed to the A-Sun First Team. Murray was a Freshman All-American last season.
2014 Murray Awards
Louisville Slugger All-American – 2nd Team
NCBWA All-America – 3rd Team
Rawlings/ABCA All-American – 3rd Team
ABCA South All-Region First Team
Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Year
Atlantic Sun All-Conference First Team
4x Atlantic Sun Pitcher of the Week
USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Semifinalist
College Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher of the Year Watch List
Murray was one of just nine pitchers in the A-Sun in the last 10 years to win double-digit games in a season. The sophomore was a semifinalist for the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award which names college baseball’s best player, has also been named to the 18-Man College Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher of the Year watch list and was a Louisville Slugger Second Team All-American in recognition of the stellar season he put together. His name is mentioned alongside players from all of the power conferences including in-state rivals and perennial college baseball powers, Florida State, Miami and Florida. He is the only player on the College Baseball Hall of Fame watch list that comes from the A-Sun.
In the early parts of the 2014 season Murray became just the second pitcher in FGCU history to throw back-to-back complete games. Ricky Knapp did so in March of 2012 when he went the distance against North Florida and East Tennessee State in consecutive outings. During his streak of 43.1 innings without allowing an earned run, which led the nation in 2014, and was snapped at Stetson, Murray’s ERA dropped as low as 0.18 at one point.
Noll (Punta Gorda, Fla./Charlotte HS) has been selected to the Pre-Season third team. The second baseman compiled impressive list of accolades following his freshman campaign. Noll was the Louisville Slugger National Freshman Player of the Year, a Louisville Slugger Third Team All-American, an NCBWA 2014 Freshman All-America First Team selection, 2014 Perfect Game Freshman All-America Second Team selection, Atlantic Sun Freshman of the Year, A-Sun First Team selection and A-Sun All-Freshman Team member.
He was brilliant during his freshman campaign serving as the catalyst at the top of the FGCU lineup. The Punta Gorda native became the first FGCU player in program history to earn Freshman of the Year honors from the A-Sun. He collected a program record 101 hits this season which ranked second in the nation behind the A-Sun Player of the Year, Max Pentecost while also stealing an A-Sun best and FGCU single-season record 25 bases. Noll broke the single-season hits record in the first inning of the A-Sun semifinal game against Lipscomb with his first and only triple of the season.
The Charlotte High School product built a team-best .367 batting average to go with 56 runs, 18 doubles and 29 RBI all while being the only Eagle to appear in all 61 games this season, which is also a single-season program record. The freshman also put together a 19-game hit streak which was the longest of any FGCU player in a season and since Josh Chester had a 24-game hit streak in 2009.
Noll burst onto the scene with six hits and three stolen bases in the season-opening series against Rhode Island. He then built a 12-game hit streak in the middle of the season that included six multi-hit performances and concluded the season with a team-best 30 multi-hit games, 10 three-hit games, a pair of four-hit games and was one of three Eagles to register a five-hit performance. Noll registered three stolen bases in a single game twice and swiped multiple bags in a game four times.
Louisville Slugger Pre-Season All-America First Team
RHP Kyle Funkhouser (Louisville)
RHP Preston Morrison (Texas Christian)
RHP Carson Fulmer (Vanderbilt)
RHP Walker Buehler (Vanderbilt)
LHP Nathan Kirby (Virginia)
RHP Thomas Eshelman (Cal. St. Fullerton)
Relief Riley Ferrell (Texas Christian)
Relief David Berg (UCLA)
C Zack Collins (Miami, Fla.)
1B Eric Gutierrez (Texas Tech.)
2B Casey Jones (Elon)
3B Connor Panas (Canisius)
SS Dansby Swanson (Vanderbilt)
OF D.J. Stewart (Florida St.)
OF Brandon Rawe (Morehead St.)
OF Christin Stewart (Tennessee)
UT Jacob Cronenworth (Michigan)
Second Team
LHP Blake Fox (Rice)
RHP James Kaprielian (UCLA)
LHP Christian Trent (Mississippi)
LHP Cole Irvin (Oregon)
RHP Mike Murray (FGCU)
LHP Andrew Suarez (Miami, Fla.)
RHP Zach Plesac (Ball St.)
RHP Tyler Davis (Washington)
RHP Justin Garza (Cal. St. Fullerton)
RHP Casey Bloomquist (Cal. Poly)
LHP Jared Poche’ (Louisiana St.)
LHP Brandon Waddell (Virginia)
LHP Tyler Jay (Illinois)
RHP Matt Warren (Creighton)
Relief Sam Moore (U.C. Irvine)
Relief Dillon Tate (U.C. Santa Barbara)
Relief Bryan Garcia (Miami, Fla.)
C Taylor Ward (Fresno St.)
C Shaun Chase (Oregon)
1B Alex Close (Liberty)
1B Sikes Orvis (Mississippi)
1B Jacob Hoyle (Western Carolina)
2B Bradley Strong (Western Carolina)
3B Brett Hoffman (S.E. Louisiana)
SS Alex Bregman (Louisiana St.)
SS Kevin Newman (Arizona)
SS Blake Trahan (Louisiana-Lafayette)
OF Joe McCarthy (Virginia)
OF Gio Brusa (Pacific)
OF Chris Shaw (Boston College)
UT Alex Robles (Austin Peay)
Third Team
RHP Bailey Ober (College of Charleston)
RHP Matt Eckelman (St. Louis)
LHP Brett Lilek (Arizona St.)
LHP Ryan Kellogg (Arizona St.)
RHP Kyle Cody (Kentucky)
RHP Jake Lemoine (Houston)
RHP Trent Thornton (North Carolina)
RHP Cal Quantrill (Stanford)
RHP Chance Sinclair (Nebraska)
RHP Brennan Leitao (Sacramento St.)
Relief Reilly Hovis (North Carolina)
Relief Ryan Burr (Arizona St.)
Relief Ashton Perritt (Liberty)
Relief Thomas Burrows (Alabama)
Relief Brandon Koch (Dallas Baptist)
C/2B Paul DeJong (Illinois St.)
C Jameson Fisher (S.E. Louisiana)
1B Austin Byler (Nevada)
1B Charles Sikes (Savannah St.)
1B Reagan Fowler (Creighton)
2B Scott Kingery (Arizona)
2B Mark Mathias (Cal. Poly)
2B Hutton Moyer (Pepperdine)
2B Jake Noll (FGCU)
3B Ty France (San Diego St.)
3B Andy Lennington (S.E. Missouri St.)
SS Dylan Bosheers (Tennessee Tech.)
SS Kevin Kramer (UCLA)
SS Travis Maezes (Michigan)
OF Steven Duggar (Clemson)
OF Ian Happ (Cincinnati)
OF Kewby Meyer (Nevada)
OF Bryan Reynolds (Vanderbilt)
The Eagles finished the season with a 39-22 record and their 19-8 mark in the A-Sun earned the program a fourth A-Sun Regular Season Championship.
DAVE TOLLETT
In 12 seasons of work, FGCU head coach Dave Tollett has compiled a 434-238-2 record as the only head coach in the program’s history. He is a four-time Atlantic Sun Coach of the Year and has guided the Green and Blue to four A-Sun Regular Season Championships. His team has been ranked nationally on several occasions by multiple media outlets and has coached 35 All-Conference selections, 22 draft picks, 14 current minor leaguers, four A-Sun Pitchers of the Year, three All-Americans, one National Freshman Player of the Year, one National Player of the Year and one MLB All-Star.
WINGSUP
Fans are encouraged to download the brand-new Wings Up mobile app in conjunction with SuperFanU. The fully-customized loyalty-rewards platform allows fans to check in at each of FGCU’s sporting events to earn points throughout the school year toward exclusive prizes that can’t be offered anywhere else.