University of Minnesota Athletics
Pettersen Named Baseball America Freshmen All-American
6/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Redshirt freshman shortstop AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) was named a First-Team Freshmen All-American by Baseball America on Tuesday, June 30.
Pettersen, who also received First-Team Freshmen All-American honors from the NCBWA, finished second in the Big Ten in runs scored (65), was first in sacrifice bunts (10) and ninth in on-base percentage (.445). He was also second on the team in batting average at .353, had 79 hits and collected 45 RBI. His .353 batting average was the highest by a Golden Gopher freshman since 2006 when Nohelty batted .361. In conference play, Pettersen hit .367 with 33 hits, 21 RBI, led the Big Ten in runs (30) and tied for seventh in on-base percentage (.472). Pettersen also was named to the Big Ten All-Freshmen team.
Joining Pettersen on the First-Team Freshmen All-American team is catcher Jeremy Schaffer (Tulane), first baseman Preston Tucker (Florida), second baseman Matt Jensen (Cal Poly), third baseman Anthony Rendon (Rice), outfielders Jackie Bradley Jr. (South Carolina), George Springer (Connecticut) and Kolton Wong (Hawai'i), designated hitter Troy Channing (St. Mary's) and utility player Danny Hultzen (Virginia). Pitching wise, the list included starters Trevor Bauer (UCLA), Sean Gilmartin (Florida State), Taylor Jungmann (Texas) and Noe Ramirez (Cal State Fullerton). Matty Ott (LSU) was named First-Team All-America honors as a reliever.
Pettersen was the only Big Ten player to be named a First-Team Freshmen All-American. He joined Indiana's Alex Dickerson (Second-Team) as one of two players to represent the conference on the overall list.
He is also the first Golden Gopher shortstop to receive Freshman All-America honors since Rick Brosseau received Honorable-Mention Freshman All-America honors in 1998 from Collegiate Baseball Magazine.
Pettersen has also been named to Freshmen All-American teams by Collegiate Baseball Magazine, Ping!Baseball.com and the NCBWA. He was joined by Justin Gominsky and Nick O'Shea on the Collegeiate Baseball Magazine team. Minnesota's three Freshmen All-Americans on that team were the most in the nation.
