Two Tigers Named Collegiate Baseball All-Americans

May 25, 2001

TUCSON, AZ – Clemson sophomore third baseman Jeff Baker and junior right-handed pitcher Steve Reba were named Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-Americans as selected by the staff of Collegiate Baseball.

Baker was a first-team selection and Reba was a third-team selection. Both players have already been named first team All-ACC this year and are Clemson’s first Collegiate Baseball All-Americans since pitcher Scott Clackum was named to the second team in 1998. Baker’s first-team selection is the first for Clemson since Kris Benson in 1996.

Baker has had a record-setting season from the plate after being named a first-team Freshman All-American as a designated hitter last year. He has hit 22 home runs this season, third most in school history and good enough for sixth in the country and has 33 home runs through his first two seasons, the most of any Tiger after two years. Baker, who hails from Woodbridge, VA, has homered twice in a game five times this season and seven times in his career, both new school standards. He also ranks in the top seven in the ACC and leads the Tigers in batting average (.376), RBIs (69), slugging percentage (.761), on base percentage (.471) and runs scored (60).

Reba is the ace of the Clemson pitching staff and leads the ACC in wins (11), ERA (2.26), strikeouts (91) and opponents’ batting average (.209). The right-hander from Fort Wayne, IN, leads Clemson with 95 2/3 innings pitched and had one of the best performances by a Tiger pitcher in four years when he pitched a complete game shutout of Georgia Tech earlier this season. He allowed only three hits and allowed only one runner to reach second base against the Yellow Jackets, who entered the game as the nation’s top hitting team with a .352 batting average. The complete game shutout was the first since Ken Vining shutout Florida State in 1996.