Three Huskers Earn Preseason All-America Honors

Lincoln ? A trio of Husker baseball players were honored Tuesday, as they were selected to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Preseason All-America team. The Huskers included starting pitchers Joba Chamberlain and Johnny Dorn, who were both second-team honorees, and closer Brett Jensen, a third-team selection.

Chamberlain turned in an impressive first season at NU, going 10-2 with a 2.81 ERA to earn first-team All-Big 12 honors. A projected first-round pick in next June’s draft, Chamberlain struck out 130 in 118.2 innings in 2005, including a 13-strikeout effort against Miami. He also picked up the Huskers’ first-ever CWS win with a victory over Arizona State in Omaha.

Dorn enjoyed the finest freshman pitching season in school history, going 12-2 with a 2.16 ERA in 104 innings of work. The Grand Island, Neb., native led all freshmen nationally in wins and ranked among the Big 12 leaders in ERA and opponent batting average (.199), as he earned third-team All-America honors in 2005.

Jensen is one of the nation’s top closers after saving a school-record 16 games in 2005. He posted a 2-5 record and a 1.96 ERA in 33 games. He was 16-of-17 in save chances, ranked third nationally in saves in 2005 and is the nation’s top returnee in saves from a year ago.

The Huskers will begin the 2006 campaign on Feb. 16 against Charleston Southern, while the home opener against Alabama is set for Friday, March 10.

2006 NCWBA PRESEASON ALL-AMERICA TEAM

FIRST TEAM

Pos. Name, School Class BA AB R H HR RBI
1B Matt LaPorta, Florida Jr. .328 265 75 87 26 79
2B Chris Campbell, Coll. Of Charleston Jr. .379 269 64 102 15 87
3B Jared McGuire, Boston College Jr. .381 215 52 82 6 41
SS Josh Rodriguez, Rice Jr. .345 238 48 82 11 54
C Michael Ambort, Lamar Jr. .336 217 57 73 18 65
OF Brennan Boesch, California Jr. .369 198 33 73 7 33
OF Shane Robinson, Florida State Jr. .427 286 96 122 6 43
OF Drew Stubbs, Texas-32 SB Jr. .311 283 67 88 11 46
DH/ATH Joe Savery, Rice So. .382 204 49 78 5 43
Pitch: 8-5, 2.43 ERA, 19 G, 118.2 IP, 104 H, 37 BB, 129 SO, 1 SV

Pitchers
Pos. Name School Cl. W-L ERA G IP H BB SO SV
SP Nick Hill, Army Jr. 10-2 1.21 14 89 60 19 90 0
SP Max Scherzer, Missouri Jr. 9-4 1.86 16 106.1 59 41 131 0
SP Dallas Buck, Oregon State Jr. 11-1 1.93 15 107 77 42 114 0
SP Ian Kennedy, Southern California Jr. 12-3 2.54 18 117 85 38 158 0
SP Kyle McCulloch, Texas Jr. 12-4 2.92 26 138.2 137 45 99 0
RP Erik Morrison, Ball State So. 7-0 1.32 28 41 31 12 41 15
RP Scott Reese, Creighton Jr. 12-0 2.85 37 88.1 72 28 58 5
RP Daniel Best, Southern Miss Sr. 3-0 0.46 30 39 32 7 37 11

SECOND TEAM
1B Adam Carr, Oklahoma State Sr. .336 235 54 79 22 86
2B Scott Sizemore, Va. Commonwealth Jr. .364 214 57 78 12 56
3B Wes Hodges, Georgia Tech Jr. .397 267 67 106 9 51
SS Mitch Hilligoss, Purdue Jr. .404 228 52 92 4 37
C Chad Tracy, Pepperdine Jr. .367 256 56 94 12 61
OF Jon Jay, Miami (Fla.) Jr. .408 211 50 86 1 52
OF Chad Huffman, TCU Sr. .353 241 54 85 12 53
OF Nathan Southard, Tulane Sr. .341 279 80 95 12 53
DH/ATH Sean Doolittle, Virginia So. .313 224 36 70 11 57
Pitching: 3-2, 1.64 ERA, 22 G, 49.1 IP, 31 H, 18 BB, 28 SO, 0 SV
DH/ATH Brian Pellegrini, St. Bonaventure Jr. .376 170 44 64 11 52
Pitching: 2-3, 1.98 ERA, 27 G, 41 IP, 34 H, 24 BB, 39 SO, 7 SV
Pitchers
Pos. Name School Cl. W-L ERA G IP H BB SO SV
SP Johnny Dorn, Nebraska So. 12-2 2.16 20 104 75 21 76 1
SP Joba Chamberlain, Nebraska Jr. 10-2 2.81 18 118.2 91 33 130 0
SP Andrew Miller, North Carolina Jr. 8-4 2.98 16 96.2 78 52 104 0
SP Jonah Nickerson, Oregon State Jr. 9-2 2.13 18 110 88 29 114 0
SP Tim Lincecum, Washington Jr. 8-6 3.11 16 104.1 62 71 131 0
RP Mark Melancon, Arizona Jr. 5-4 2.58 34 66.1 52 21 69 11
RP Tyler Chambliss, Florida State Jr. 7-3 2.06 39 52.1 36 23 75 15
RP Kevin Gunderson, Oregon State Jr. 6-4 2.76 33 65.1 49 14 62 14

THIRD TEAM
1B Matt Rizzotti, Manhattan So. .416 173 53 72 9 57
2B Adam Davis, Florida Jr. .306 294 75 90 12 63
3B Jay Heafner, Davidson Sr. .448 203 51 91 11 58
(tie) 3B Brad Emaus, Tulane So. .321 262 71 80 13 56
SS Blake Davis, Cal State Fullerton Jr. .325 212 50 69 2 36
C Jeff Kunkel, Michigan Sr. .384 190 28 73 3 45
(tie) C J.P. Arencibia, Tennessee So. .322 283 54 91 14 71
OF Hunter Mense, Missouri Jr. .325 206 62 67 3 42
OF Anthony Wycklendt, Northwestern Sr. .311 193 37 60 10 52
OF Jeremy Jones, No Carolina A&T Sr. .402 204 53 82 4 46
DH/ATH Matt Wieters, Georgia Tech So. .366 227 53 83 10 68
Pitching: 3-3, 2.85 ERA, 26 G, 41 IP, 40 H, 20 BB, 32 SO, 6 SV
DH/ATH Jon Willard, South Carolina Jr. .315 178 23 56 6 30
DH/ATH Justin Baum, Pacific So. .332 190 39 63 17 45

Pitchers
Pos. Name School Cl. W-L ERA G IP H BB SO SV
SP John Ely, Miami (Ohio) So. 10-2 2.87 16 103.1 94 20 108 0
SP James Adkins, Tennessee So. 10-5 3.32 19 127.1 107 51 135 0
SP Adrian Alaniz, Texas So. 8-3 2.67 23 108 93 39 94 0
SP Tim Bascom, UCF Jr. 10-2 3.10 16 113.2 103 29 113 0
SP Jared Hughes, Long Beach State Jr. 8-3 2.83 15 89 67 23 87 0
RP Michael Nix, Auburn Jr. 5-2 2.34 27 50 42 12 44 12
RP Brett Jensen, Nebraska Sr. 3-5 1.96 33 46 36 9 46 16
RP Blair Erickson, UC Irvine Jr. 1-2 1.80 28 35 16 22 52 10