Tennessee outfielder Alerick Soularie has been named a Preseason First Team All-American by D1Baseball.com.
Soularie was named a Third Team All-American by D1Baseball in the spring following his breakout season in 2019. As he enters his junior season, he moves up from the third team last June to the first team.
According to D1Baseball, the publication puts together its All-American teams with one guiding principle in mind: to identify the best and most valuable college baseball players for the 2020 season.
“Past performance and future potential factor into the deliberations, but the goal was neither to identify the best future major leaguers nor to reward the players who have put up the gaudiest numbers in past seasons (particularly since the level of competition varies significantly from one conference to another),” D1Baseball writes. “The objective was to select the players who would provide the most value for a team that wanted to win the College World Series in 2020 — the players who are best equipped to perform against elite college competition this spring.”
Soularie helped guide Tennessee to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005 last season thanks to his powerful hitting.
In his first season in Knoxville, the junior left fielder hit .357, smashed 11 home runs, and tallied 46 RBI. Soularie led the team in batting (.357), slugging (.602), and on-base percentage (.466). He also finished second on the team in hits (70) and led the team in runs scored (52).
Soularie was named a D1Baseball All-America Third Team selection, a Rawlings/Perfect Game All-America Honorable Mention, and an ABCA/Rawlings South All-Region Second Team selection following his performance. He was also named to the All-SEC First Team.
The Houston, Texas native signed with Tennessee after a year of JUCO baseball.
Tony Vitello will begin his third season as the Vols’ skipper on Feb. 14th when he and his team welcomes in Western Illinois to town for a three-game series.
Tennessee will play 37 games at Lindsey Nelson Stadium this season. The Vols will also play four neutral-site games, including one at nearby Smokies Stadium against UT-Martin on March 24. The Vols will play 20 games against teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament last year. That includes 11 games against programs that made it to the Super Regionals and seven versus teams that made it to the College World Series.
