AUBURN, Ala. – Ike Irish has been named First Team All-Southeast Region coming off a season in which he led or tied for the team lead in each Triple Crown category, the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings announced Tuesday.
It marks the fourth straight season Auburn has had a First Team All-Southeast Region honoree, which will earn Irish consideration for the ABCA All-America Team.
Irish has also been named First Team All-SEC, a semifinalist for the Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award and a member of the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List.
A sophomore from Hudsonville, Michigan, Irish led the Tigers in average (.319) and RBI (59) and tied for the team lead in home runs (14). His 59 RBI were tied for the eighth most in the conference at the end of the regular season and tied for the fourth most by an Auburn player since 2010. Against the stiffest competition in the country, Irish hit .311 in 26 league games and led the team in runs (22), hits (33) and RBI (28) while tying for the team lead in home runs (seven).
Along with his production at the plate, Irish tied for third in the league in the regular season with nine runners caught stealing and added an outfield assist. He started 24 games at catcher, 11 games as the designated hitter and 10 games in right field.
He became the fourth fastest player in program history to record his 100th career hit, doing so in his 68th game played with a first-inning homer against UConn on Mar. 2, trailing only Scott Pratt (61 games), Todd Faulkner (63 games) and Tim Hudson (66 games) on the short list.