BATON ROUGE – LSU outfielder Raph Rhymes and pitcher Kevin Gausman were named 2012 first-team all-Americans Thursday by Collegiate Baseball magazine.
Rhymes, the 2012 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, leads the nation in hitting with a .459 (96-for-209) batting average. He has recorded 11 doubles, three homers, 50 RBI, a .555 slugging percentage and a .513 on-base percentage.
Gausman, a 2012 first-team all-Southeastern Conference selection, leads the SEC in strikeouts with 125, and he’s recorded a 10-1 mark with a 2.84 ERA.
LSU is the only school in the nation to place two players on the 2012 Collegiate Baseball first-team all-America squad.
Twenty-three LSU baseball players have earned first-team all-America honors, including five Tigers during coach Paul Mainieri‘s six-year tenure. Along with Rhymes and Gausman, Mainieri’s LSU first-team all-Americans include first baseman/outfielder Blake Dean (2008), pitcher Louis Coleman (2009) and outfielder Mikie Mahtook (2011).
The Collegiate Baseball recognition for Rhymes and Gausman marks the first time LSU has had two first-team all-Americans in the same season since 1998, when first baseman Eddy Furniss and catcher Brad Cresse earned the distinction.
Other seasons in which LSU has had two first-team all-Americans include 1997 (shortstop Brandon Larson and pitcher Patrick Coogan), 1996 (first baseman Eddy Furniss and pitcher Eddie Yarnall and 1994 (second baseman Todd Walker and shortstop Russ Johnson).