College Baseball: UCI’s Hiura Freshman All-American

UC Irvine outfielder Keston Hiura has been named Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball.

Hiura was the Big West Conference Freshman of the Year among position players after leading the conference with a UCI-freshman-record 52 runs batted in. He also led the conference with 118 total bases, while hitting .330 with 75 hits and seven home runs.

A first-team all-conference honoree, Hiura led the Anteaters with 18 doubles (third-most among conference players in the regular season) and a .520 slugging percentage and was the lone member of the team to start all 56 games. He led UCI outfielders with six assists and committed three errors to post a .975 fielding percentage.

His 15 multiple-RBI games and 19-game hitting streak were both tops on the team, as was his streak of 12 straight games reaching base.

Hiura helped the ‘Eaters finish 33-23, 15-9 in the Big West, good for third place.

He is UCI’s first freshman All-American since Ronnie Shaffer was recognized in 2009.

Other UCI freshmen to be so honored are Mark Wagner (2003), Matt Anderson (2002) and R.J. Brown (2002).

— From staff reports