ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – If there is a national outlet with a Freshman All-America Team, Rylan Thomas is on it. The UCF rookie has now added Baseball America and D1Baseball Freshman All-American honors to his résumé following an outstanding first year with the Knights.
Thomas had already received top freshman honors from National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper/Louisville Slugger and Perfect Game/Rawlings.
A Second Team honoree by both Baseball America and D1Baseball, Thomas finished his first season batting .303 with a .359 on base percentage and slugging .530. He set a new UCF freshman record with 14 home runs and hit the most homers by any Knight since 2012.
The Winter Garden, Fla., native also led UCF with 53 runs batted in, had 11 doubles and scored 46 runs, while leading the Knights to and American Athletic Conference Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.
Thomas was the American Athletic Conference Rookie Position Player of the Year and earned Second Team All-Conference honors from The American.
The Knights had a very successful first season under head coach Greg Lovelady, finishing the year 40-22, winning the league's regular season title with a record of 15-9.
