UC Santa Barbara junior left-handed pitcher Kyle Nelson earned his third Preseason All-America honor as the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association unveiled its 17th annual Division I Preseason All-American Team.
A Second-Team selection by the NCBWA, Nelson earlier this offseason was named a Preseason All-American by Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. He is not the only Gaucho earning preseason buzz, as junior shortstop Clay Fisher was also named an All-American by Collegiate Baseball and is being cited as one of the top prospects in the Big West for the 2017 MLB First-Year Player Draft.
Nelson is coming off two of the best seasons by a reliever in program history.
As the team’s closer this past season, Nelson went 7-2 with a 2.18 ERA and 10 saves, becoming just the fourth Gaucho ever to reach double digits in saves in a single season. The 6-1 southpaw burst onto the scene as a freshman in 2015, notching a 0.75 ERA in a team-high 25 outings.
UCSB has reached new heights as a program with Nelson as the top man in the bullpen, reaching the first College World Series in school history in 2016 and earning a No. 1 seed and host appointment in the 2015 NCAA Tournament, a program first.
Over his first two seasons, he logged 49 straight innings without allowing an earned run, a streak which stands as the school record and was the longest active streak in the NCAA before it was snapped on Mar. 18, 2016 against UConn.
With 12 career saves under his belt, he needs just five this season to become UCSB’s all-time leader in the statistic.
The Gauchos open the 2017 season with a three-game series against Loyola Marymount starting on Friday, Feb. 17.