2016 ABCA/Rawlings Division II All-America Team
WACO, Texas - St. Edward’s J.D. Arrowood and Lubbock Christian’s Guillaume Blanchette led four Heartland players on the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-America team as announced by the ABCA and Rawlings.
Blanchette, who picked up his third All-America award this season, was named to the first team after a stellar season for Lubbock Christian in their first year of postseason eligibility. The Canadian native led the Chaparrals with a 1.73 earned run average which ranked eighth in Division II and a conference-high 108 strikeouts. Blanchette was named NCBWA and D2CCA First Team All-America, Pitcher of the Year by the Heartland Conference, D2CCA and ABCA this season, and was also named the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week on February 20.
St. Edward’s first baseman J.D. Arrowood was also named to the first team. Arrowood was named to the NCBWA All-America Team in 2015. The Hilltoppers senior had a monster year in which he hit .376 and hit a conference-leading 23 doubles. He also led the conference in home runs (20) and RBI (66) while ranking second in the conference in walks (34) and hits (82). He was also received NCBWA All-America Second Team honors this season.
Joining Blanchette and Arrowood were Heartland Player of the Year Tyler Bugner, and LCU second baseman Hunter McFall. Bugner led the Heartland in batting average hitting .439 this season. The junior from Newman also stole a conference-high 20 bases this season. McFall is a three-time All-Heartland selection and had a stellar year for the Chaps hitting .424 with 92 hits and 56 runs batted in.