Three Deacons Make Preseason All-America Baseball Team
11/13/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Nov. 13, 2002
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- The Wake Forest baseball team placed three players on the National College Baseball Writers Assocation Preseason All-America Team, the organization announced on Wednesday. Juniors Kyle Sleeth and Jamie D'Antona were voted to the first team while senior Adam Bourassa was selected to the third team.
Wake Forest is just one of three schools to have two players make the first team. Defending national champion Texas and 2002 Super Regional qualifer Richmond were the others.
Sleeth, a junior right-handed pitcher from Westminster, Colo., comes off a stellar sophomore season with the Deacons. He posted a perfect 14-0 record with a 2.97 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 118.1 innings. Over the summer, Sleeth starred for Team USA with seven wins against just one defeat.
D'Antona, a junior third baseman from Trumbull, Conn., joins Sleeth on the first team. D'Antona finished his sophomore season with a .336 average, 20 home runs and 93 runs batted in. His RBI total was good for fifth place nationally and he became just the fifth Deacon to reach the 20 home run plateau in a single season. D'Antona spent the summer with the Chatham A's in the Cape Cod League.
Bourassa, a senior centerfielder from Apple Valley, Minn., was a third team selection. Last spring, Bourassa had one of the best seasons in Wake Forest history with a .412 batting average. He became the third player in Wake Forest history to reach 100 hits in one year. Bourassa was selected to the Cape Cod All-Star team for the second consecutive summer while he played for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.
Wake Forest returns nine starters and ten pitchers from last year's 47-13-1 team. The Demon Deacons open their 2003 schedule at Hooks Stadium on February 11 against Appalachian State at 2:30 p.m.
