06-02-2011, 10:23 PM
Two pitchers All-American
Quote:No. 24 Kent State Baseball’s Hallock, McMillen Earn All-America Status
TUSCON, Ariz. -- Senior left-handed starting pitcher Kyle Hallock (Sandusky, Ohio) and junior right-handed closer Kyle McMillen (North Canton, Ohio) garnered Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I Third Team All-America selection as members of the No. 24 ranked Kent State squad, the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper announced today (June 2).
The duo is mentored by 14th-year associate head coach Mike Birkbeck, who has helped tutor a pitching staff that ranks sixth in the country with a team earned run average of 2.56 and helped lead Kent State to a 43-15 record, MAC regular season and tournament titles and the 12th NCAA Championship berth in program history in 2011. Hallock and McMillen run Kent State's total Louisville Slugger All-America selections to seven – including five in the last six years and three in the last two seasons.
Quote:The Mid-American Conference regular season and tournament champions drew a No. 3 regional seed for the first time in program history and will square off with No. 2-seeded Texas State Friday (June 3) at 2 p.m. EST (1 p.m. CST) at the University of Texas's UFCU Disch Falk Field. Hallock will get the start and oppose Texas State's junior right-handed starting pitcher Carson Smith, who was named Louisville Slugger Second Team All-America.
No. 5-ranked Texas (43-15), which earned a No. 7 national seed for the tournament and the No. 1 seed in the regional as host, and No. 4-seeded Princeton (23-22) will also take part in the Austin Regional. The two squads will meet in the opening-round nightcap of the regional on Friday at 7:30 p.m. EST (6:30 p.m. CST).