Lincoln – After earning unanimous first-team All-Big Ten honors last week, Nebraska junior pitcher Chance Sinclair was tabbed for a national honor on Thursday morning as he was named a third-team Louisville Slugger All-American by Collegiate Baseball.
Sinclair is the first Husker to earn All-American honors since Michael Pritchard was a third-team pick by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association in 2012. Johnny Dorn was the last NU pitcher to earn All-American honors, selected as a third-team honoree by the NCBWA in 2008.
Following two seasons at Neosho County CC where he set multiple school records, Sinclair transfer to Nebraska and has been part of NU’s weekend rotation all season in 2014. The Spring Hill, Kan., native leads the Huskers with a 9-1 record, while also posting a 2.29 ERA. During Big Ten play, Sinclair was a perfect 6-0 in eight starts with a 2.10 ERA, including a 10-strikeout performance in his final home start of the year against Illinois on May 15. It was the most strikeouts in a conference game by a Husker since Thad Weber sat down 11 against Kansas on March 18, 2008.
On the year, Sinclair has gone 6.0 or more innings in 12 of his 15 starts, including nine outings of at least 7.0 innings or more and a 9.0-inning complete game against Ohio State on April 5. Sinclair’s complete game against Ohio State was one of three by the Husker pitching staff that weekend, as Christian DeLeon and Aaron Bummer also tossed complete games. No other staff in the country threw three 9.0-inning complete games in a weekend series during the 2014 season.
Sinclair was one of five Big Ten players honored on Thursday, with conference regular-season and tournament champion Indiana claiming the other four spots. Catcher Kyle Schwarber and first baseman Sam Travis were both second-team picks, while pitcher Joey DeNato and third baseman Dustin DeMuth were named to the third team along with Sinclair.
Nebraska opens NCAA Tournament play on Friday at 12:05 p.m. and Sinclair is scheduled to start NU’s first tournament game since 2008. The No. 2 seed Huskers will play No. 3 seed Cal State Fullerton in the Stillwater Regional and the game will be broadcast live on ESPNU.