COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Texas A&M juniors Asa Lacy and Zach DeLoach were named to the Preseason All-SEC Team as voted by the conference’s coaches, the league announced Thursday.
Lacy garnered first-team starting pitcher honors while DeLoach received second-team outfielder distinction.
Lacy is swimming in preseason accolades after picking up first-team preseason All-America honors from four organizations, including D1Baskeball.com, Collegiate Baseball, Perfect Game/Rawlings and Baseball America.
This accolade marks the second preseason honor for DeLoach, who tore up the Cape Cod League over the summer. He led the league with a .353 batting average, pounding out eight doubles, one triple, five home runs and 23 RBI while stealing eight bases in 37 games for the Falmouth Commodores. He earned second-team preseason All-America recognition from Baseball America.
DeLoach hit .260 during his freshman campaign in 2018, tallied 37 runs, 10 doubles, five triples, two home runs and 27 RBI in 61 games. Last season, the Lewisville, Texas-product logged 27 runs, four doubles, one triple, three home runs and 16 RBI in 56 games. In SEC play, DeLoach registered 27 games with eight runs, three doubles, one home run and eight RBI.
Lacy earned National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) All-America Third Team recognition last year, as well as reaping Perfect Game/Rawlings College All-America Honorable Mention.
The Kerrville, Texas, native logged an 8-4 record with 2.13 ERA in 2019, leading the nation in fewest hits allowed per nine innings (4.97). He also ranked eighth in strikeouts per nine innings (13.2) and ninth in strikeouts (130). Lacy was chosen to play for the USA Baseball 2019 Collegiate National Team and was named a Golden Spikes Award semifinalist for his performance as a sophomore. In SEC play, Lacy posted a 3-4 record with 2.94 ERA and 78 strikeouts, which ranked third in the SEC.
Lacy helped the Aggie pitching staff set a new single-season school record for strikeouts in a season with 673 in 2019. He also helped the staff lead the SEC with the lowest earned run average (3.30 ERA), earned runs allowed (97), batter struck out looking (90) and batters struck out (324), in conference games only.
The Aggies were voted by the conference’s coaches to rank fifth in the Western Division of the SEC. Arkansas was tabbed the favorite in the West, while Vanderbilt was selected to win the Eastern Division as well as the overall league title.
The Maroon & White open the 2020 campaign on February 14 when they host the Miami (Ohio) RedHawks to start a three-game series on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.