Jakob Hernandez Named NJCAA All-American
Seward County ace Jakob Hernandez capped off his illustrious Saints career with the sports highest honor on Tuesday as the NJCAA announced that the southpaw was a 2016 3rd Team All-American.
Hernandez had a breakout sophomore season for the Saints, capturing the Jayhawk Conference regular season pitching triple crown. Hernandez finished the year as the nation's leader in strikeouts by a whopping 23, despite logging less innings on the mound than eight of the 10 leaders in the category. Hernandez's strikeout total was somewhat historic in the NJCAA ranks as the 159 were second most of any pitcher in the past 15 seasons, topped by only 2015 MLB 1st Round Draft Pick Phil Bickford. He racked up a 10-3 overall record, placing himself in the top 15 in the country in wins despite a short stint in the postseason for Seward. His ERA hovered around 2.00 all season, finishing up at 2.33 which was also a top 25 mark in the NJCAA.
Hernandez is the first Seward pitcher to receive All-American honors since Tomas Cruz in 2008 and joins 2014 battery mate Brent Williams as the Saints last two All-American selections. Hernandez will pitch for the Liberal BeeJays this summer before moving on to the University of Texas-Arlington to play for former Saint Darin Thomas next season.