from HCC Sports Information
Hutchinson Community College freshman catcher Tanner Lubach was named to the second team of the 2012 NJCAA Division I Baseball All-America team on Tuesday morning.
Lubach is the first Blue Dragon baseball player to be named to the NJCAA All-America team since Shawn Lewick in 2010. Lubach is the fourth All-American under head coach Kyle Crookes.
Up front, it was known that Lubach, a 6-foot, 170-pound catcher from Lincoln , Neb. ( Lincoln Southwest High School ) was going to be with the Blue Dragons for one season only. Lubach signed early with the University of Nebraska and will have three seasons of eligibility with the Cornhuskers.
Lubach definitely made that one year in Hutchinson count.
He was a first-team selection to both the All-Jayhawk West and All-NJCAA Region VI teams and he was named the Region VI Defensive Player of the Year. Lubach is a finalist for the Rawlings Golden Glove Award, which is given to the national defensive player of the year.
Lubach was second on the 2012 Blue Dragons in hitting with a .383 average, collecting a team-high 70 hits in 52 games. A right-handed hitter, Lubach hit .341 against left-handed pitchers and .396 against right-handers. Lubach hit .342 with runners in scoring position and with two outs, he hit .328 and drove in 12 runs.
Lubach also had team highs with 18 doubles, 13 home runs (tied for sixth most in a single season), 57 runs batted in and a .716 slugging percentage. The freshman also had two triples, 24 strikeouts to 23 walks, was hit by seven pitches and he posted a .465 on-base percentage. Lubach stole 9 of 15 bases.
Lubach posted 21 multi-hit games, including one four-hit game against Dodge City on March 11. He had 12 multi-RBI games with a season-high five against Kansas City , Kansas , on Feb. 25.
Defensively, Lubach posted tremendous numbers, especially behind the plate. Lubach also played 24 games in left field.
Lubach posted a .983 fielding percentage with only three errors in 176 defensive chances. He threw out nearly 24 percent of basestealers and he picked off one baserunner.
Lubach is one of five players from the Jayhawk Conference to earn NJCAA All-America honors. Pratt’s Skylar Angood and Neosho County ’s Adam Giacalone were first-team selections. Barton’s Federeico Castagnini and Neosho County pitcher Matt Strahm, another