Jenkins and Lowder Named NCBWA District Players of the Year

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The final eight teams head to Omaha, Neb. to find out who will be this year’s National Champion in college baseball. The National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) recently announced their District Players of the Year in the nine districts that covered college baseball. Since NGSC Sports has been following two leagues in two different districts, we are going to focus on District 1 and District 4. District 1 has the America East schools among the states it covers and District 4 features the Atlantic Coast Conference. The two players that were named are Jeremiah Jenkins of the Maine Black Bears and Rhett Lowder of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

The Maine Black Bears returned to the NCAA Baseball Tournament this spring behind the left-handed swinging bat of Jenkins. The sophomore from Upper Marlboro, Maryland was a force in the three-hole of the Black Bears lineup. The team played 53 games and Jenkins started all 53 games. His numbers would back up why his name was penciled in the lineup every day. He hit .365 with 21 home runs and 76 RBI. He slugged at a .492 clip with an on-base percentage of .756. He totaled 197 at-bats with 72 hits. Along with the long balls, Jenkins also had 12 doubles and one triple. His ability to put bat on ball, as well as show a very good eye at the plate, are demonstrated in his strikeouts and walks numbers. He struck out only 36 times this spring while getting 39 free passes. Jenkins forces pitchers to come to him when he is at the dish. The results were usually very good for him and his team. Not so much for the opposition. Since the season has ended for him and the Black Bears, Jenkins has been named to six other postseason teams and awards. It goes to show just how valuable he is to the Black Bears.

Rhett Lowder may be the best pitcher in college baseball. He is currently the ace for what many think is the best pitching staff in the game. As he gets ready to make his start for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in Omaha later this week, he does so with some gaudy numbers. His record is 15-0 with a 1.92 ERA. The 15 wins lead the nation and his 17 appearances have all been starts. He has thrown 108.0 innings and has allowed 80 hits. He has yielded 28 runs of which 23 are earned. Lowder strikeout to walks ratio is sick at 131 punchouts to 21 bases on balls. He understands the value of throwing strikes and has quite an arsenal with which to do that. Hitters have been taking plenty of turns heading back to their dugout since their opposing batting average is just .207. Lowder has an above-average pickoff move as he has picked off two runners. However, he has allowed four of five stolen bases attempts to be successful. Guess he is human after all. When MLB holds their first-year Player Draft in Seattle during the All-Star break. Lowder will hear his name called early in that process and deservedly so. He is a big reason why the Demon Deacons are in the College World Series for the first time since they won it all back in 1955.

Lowder is one of five District Players of the Year that will be playing in Omaha later this week. Jac Caglianone of Florida, Dylan Crews and Paul Skenes of LSU, and Alberto Rios of Stanford were also honored.