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Fraley, Poche' Named Freshman All-Americans

by Bill Franques
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Fraley, Poche' Named Freshman All-Americans

BATON ROUGE, La. – LSU left-handed pitcher Jared Poche’ and outfielder Jake Fraley were named Monday as 2014 second-team Freshmen all-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Poche’, a native of Lutcher, La., was 9-3 this season with a 2.45 ERA in 16 starts, and he recorded  26 walks and 52 strikeouts in 91.2 innings.

He was named to SEC All-Tournament team after defeating Vanderbilt on May 21, allowing one run on five hits in seven innings with one walk and three strikeouts.

Poche’ defeated Miss. State on April 5, limiting the Bulldogs to one unearned run on three hits in six innings with two walks and six strikeouts, as he fired a season-high 108 pitches in the outing.

He recorded his first career SEC victory on March 22 with an exceptional performance against Georgia, earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors. Poche’ worked 8.2 innings, limiting UGA to one run on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Fraley, a product of Middletown, Del., batted .372 (45-for-121) this season with seven doubles, one triple, three homers, 31 runs, eight steals and 29 RBI. He enjoyed a torrid stretch at the end of the season, batting .476 (20-for-42) over the Tigers’ final 12 games with one double, one homer, eight runs, five steals and five RBI.

Fraley helped lead LSU to the SEC Tournament title, batting a team-high .500 (5-for-10) with three runs, two RBI and two steals. He was also the Tigers’ leading hitter in SEC regular-season games, batting .350 (21-for-60) with four doubles, 13 runs, three steals and nine RBI.

LSU has produced nine Freshmen All-Americans in coach Paul Mainieri‘s eight-season tenure, including Poche’, Fraley, shortstop Alex Bregman (2013), pitcher Aaron Nola (2012), second baseman JaCoby Jones (2011), pitcher Kurt McCune (2011), pitcher Matty Ott (2009), catcher Micah Gibbs (2008) and outfielder Blake Dean (2007).