Mike Saunches became the second Illinois State baseball player to earn All-American honors since the program made the move to the Division I level in 1971 when he was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-American Third Team in a ceremony held at the College World Series Opening Ceremonies.
Saunches, a 6-foot-3, 260-pound designated hitter from Decatur added yet another accolade to his sophomore ledger which already included All-Valley First Team, All-Valley Tournament Team and All-Midwest Region First Team honors. He joins Dave Bergman, who earned Sporting News All-American honors in 1974, as the only Redbirds to garner such a prestigious national honor.
Its a great honor, Im totally shocked, Saunches said. There are so many great players in the game and its just a tremendous feeling to know that I was one of the guys picked.
The sophomore slugger relishes the ides of being one of two All-Americans to have donned Redbird jerseys.
Its unbelievable when you think about it. There have been so many tremendously talented players to go through this program just in the two years that Ive been here, guys who could have merited this honor, that Im just absolutely amazed by this whole thing, Saunches said.
A power-hitting sophomore who batted cleanup for the Birds, Saunches ranked among the national leaders for batting average and runs batted in for much of the season while posting a .363 average and team highs of 13 home runs and 68 RBI.
With 68 runs batted in over 52 games, the powerful lefty led the conference and ranked No. 13 nationally with 1.3 RBI per game. The 68 RBI also ties Ryan Duncheon for the fourth-best single season effort in school history.
Mike is a special player and he made tremendous strides this year, head coach Jeff Stewart said. He was able to carry this team from an offensive standpoint for a couple of stretches during the season and his mere presence in our lineup made the whole team better.
Known for his tape measure homers, Saunches became sixth player in school history and the first since 1991 to hit three homers in a game when he went yard in three consecutive at bats in a crucial conference victory at Northern Iowa.
An imposing figure at the plate, Saunches also put on a show at the 2001 Sprint Broadband Direct Valley Baseball Tournament, going 6-for-9 with two homers, five runs batted in and five runs scored to earn all-tournament honors.
A winner of conference, regional and national honors, Saunches has his sites fixed on next years junior campaign.
This definitely makes me want to work harder on my game this summer. The awards are nice, but improvement is always my long-term goal. Hopefully by this time next year well be talking about first team all-American honors, Saunches, who is playing for the Twin City Stars over the summer, said.
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