University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Rebecca Lawson
Sabato, Serretti and Love Named D1 Baseball Freshman All-Americans
July 1, 2019 | Baseball
Chapel Hill -- Aaron Sabato, Danny Serretti and Austin Love were named D1 Baseball All-Americans over the weekend as North Carolina led all programs with three selections. Sabato was named to the first-team while Serretti and Love were both named second-team.
A native of Rye Brook, N.Y., Sabato had one of the best freshman seasons in recent Carolina Baseball history. The ACC Freshman of the Year has set the single season freshman home run record with 18 long balls, besting the previous record of 15 set by Chad Flack in 2015. Sabato also led the team in batting average during conference play (.358), and is the first freshman to do that since Colin Moran was named ACC Freshman of the year in 2011. He led the team in batting average (.343), hits (79), doubles (25), home runs (18), RBIs (63), total bases (160) and slugging percentage (.696). The freshman also led the team in multi-hit games (23) and multi-RBI games (17) and is the first Tar Heel since 2012 to hit for the cycle when he did so on Thursday May 16 against NC State. Sabato has also been named an All-American by Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America, Perfect Game and is the NCBWA National Freshman Hitter of the Year.Â
Serretti, a native of Berkely Heights, N.J., has made his own history this year becoming the first freshman under head coach Mike Fox to have two games with five or more hits in a single season, and is the first overall Tar Heel to do so since Dustin Ackley in 2009. Serretti is also the first Tar Heel to have a six RBI game since Colin Moran in 2013. Serretti finished second on the team in batting average (.299) and doubles (18) and started 60 of the 61 games he has appeared in. After starting the year at second base, Serretti has been the starting shortstop for the back half of the season and has solidified the batting order hitting in the three and four holes. Serretti was previsouly named to the All-ACC Freshman Team as well as as Perfect Game and Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American teams.Â
Love, a native of Salisbury, N.C., led the team in wins after going 8-4 in his first competitive season in Chapel Hill. Primarily used out of the bullpen, he was one of the best relievers in the ACC and saved some of his best performances for the postseason. He set a career high in innings pitched and strikeouts against Miami in the ACC Championship after throwing 6.1 innings out of the bullpen and striking out six Hurricanes batters. In his final outing of the year, Love came out of the bullpen to throw 4.2 innings of shutout baseball in an elimnation game against Auburn, trying his career high with six strikeouts to force a game three in the Chapel Hill Super Regional.Â
A native of Rye Brook, N.Y., Sabato had one of the best freshman seasons in recent Carolina Baseball history. The ACC Freshman of the Year has set the single season freshman home run record with 18 long balls, besting the previous record of 15 set by Chad Flack in 2015. Sabato also led the team in batting average during conference play (.358), and is the first freshman to do that since Colin Moran was named ACC Freshman of the year in 2011. He led the team in batting average (.343), hits (79), doubles (25), home runs (18), RBIs (63), total bases (160) and slugging percentage (.696). The freshman also led the team in multi-hit games (23) and multi-RBI games (17) and is the first Tar Heel since 2012 to hit for the cycle when he did so on Thursday May 16 against NC State. Sabato has also been named an All-American by Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America, Perfect Game and is the NCBWA National Freshman Hitter of the Year.Â
Serretti, a native of Berkely Heights, N.J., has made his own history this year becoming the first freshman under head coach Mike Fox to have two games with five or more hits in a single season, and is the first overall Tar Heel to do so since Dustin Ackley in 2009. Serretti is also the first Tar Heel to have a six RBI game since Colin Moran in 2013. Serretti finished second on the team in batting average (.299) and doubles (18) and started 60 of the 61 games he has appeared in. After starting the year at second base, Serretti has been the starting shortstop for the back half of the season and has solidified the batting order hitting in the three and four holes. Serretti was previsouly named to the All-ACC Freshman Team as well as as Perfect Game and Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American teams.Â
Love, a native of Salisbury, N.C., led the team in wins after going 8-4 in his first competitive season in Chapel Hill. Primarily used out of the bullpen, he was one of the best relievers in the ACC and saved some of his best performances for the postseason. He set a career high in innings pitched and strikeouts against Miami in the ACC Championship after throwing 6.1 innings out of the bullpen and striking out six Hurricanes batters. In his final outing of the year, Love came out of the bullpen to throw 4.2 innings of shutout baseball in an elimnation game against Auburn, trying his career high with six strikeouts to force a game three in the Chapel Hill Super Regional.Â
Players Mentioned
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