University of Tennessee Athletics
Stewart Tabbed as Pre-Season All-American
December 19, 2014 | Baseball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- With just a few weeks remaining until official practices begin, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper released their 2015 Louisville Slugger Pre-Season All-American list, featuring Tennessee outfielder and USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Gold Medalist Christin Stewart as a first-team selection.
With the nomination, Stewart becomes the first Tennessee Volunteer to receive pre-season first-team All-American accolades since 2010, when Cody Hawn took home multiple pre-season honors as the top first baseman in the country by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, Baseball America, Rivals.com and the National Baseball Writers Association.
"I'm very proud of Christin being recognized by Collegiate Baseball on their Pre-Season All-American Team," Head Coach Dave Serrano said. "I think his body of work here at Tennessee and during his two summer stints - one being with Team USA - warrant such an honor. My expectations as we move forward are that our program will continually be recognized by deserving players with these types of honors."
During his sophomore campaign on Rocky Top in 2014, Stewart hit .330 with an SEC-leading six triples and 39 RBI. He started each of the Vols' 54 games and became just the 11th player in Tennessee history to win the team "Triple Crown", leading the squad in batting average, home runs (5) and RBI for the first time since Hawn also accomplished the feat in 2009. Stewart additionally led the Vols in runs scored (45), total hits (72), doubles (19) and slugging percentage (.541). Following the season, Stewart took home All-SEC accolades from the Conference, the first Tennessee player to do so since 2009.
Stewart was later selected to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team after a brief stint with the Orleans Firebirds of the Cape Cod Summer League, where he hit .276 with two home runs and five RBI in seven games. As the 20th Tennessee representative to be a part of Team USA, Stewart led the Collegiate National Team in multiple offensive categories, including batting (.383), hits (31) and doubles (12). His 16 RBI ranked second-best on the team, while he earned "Best Hitter" merits during the team's gold medal performance at Haarlem-Honkbal Week in the Netherlands.
Entering his junior season in 2015, Stewart owns a .322 career average as a Volunteer, with 27 doubles, eight homers and 66 RBI as well as a .380 mark with runners in scoring position. His 74 career extra-base hits are currently tied for 10th-most all-time in Tennessee history.
The Volunteers hit the field for their first official practice of the 2015 season on January 23. Tennessee opens its regular season in Miami, Fla., facing Florida International for a three-game set (Feb. 13-15) before returning to Knoxville for a six-game homestand. In total, the Volunteers will play 27 of their 55 regular season games this year against nine 2014 NCAA postseason participants, including College World Series squads Vanderbilt, UC Irvine and Ole Miss.
For more information about the Tennessee baseball team, visit UTSports.com/baseball and follow @Vol_Baseball on Twitter.
