Omaha, Neb. - San Jose State University baseball player Kyle Bellows was selected on Monday, June 11, as a third-team shortstop on the inaugural Ping!Baseball All Ping! Freshmen Team, as selected by the staff of pingbaseball.com.
This is the second national accolade for the Spartan rookie thus far in the month of June. Bellows had been named a 2007 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American last week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, becoming the first Spartan to earn the distinction since 2003.
The San Jose native and graduate of Santa Teresa High School was the only Spartan to start all 60 games during the 2007 campaign. He hit .343 (81-for-236) with 48 runs, 47 RBI, 14 doubles and six home runs.
Bellows was one of three Spartans to earn second-team All-Western Athletic Conference honors, and also was named to the WAC All-Tournament Team. He gained WAC “Hitter of the Week” and College Baseball Foundation “National Honor Roll” recognition during the year.
Bellows was joined from the WAC on the All Ping! Freshmen Team by second-team first baseman Shaun Kort of Nevada (.392, 6 HR, 50 RBI) and honorable mention designated hitter Vinnie Catricala of Hawai’i. A pair of Saint Mary’s players, Randy Wells and Anthony Aliotti, were named second-team second baseman and third-team utility, respectively, while California’s Blake Smith was an honorable mention outfielder.
The first-team shortstop ahead of Bellows was Mississippi State’s Brandon Turner (.402, 2 HR, 44 RBI). Cole Figueroa (.332, 11 HR, 50 RBI) of Florida and Austin Knight (.338, 1 HR, 43 RBI) of Dallas Baptist were second-team shortstops, with Brandon Javis (.321, 7 HR, 36 RBI) of Savannah State sharing third-team honors with Bellows.
Bellows is in Holyoke, Mass., playing summer ball for the Holyoke Giants of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL). The Giants began their season on the road on Friday, June 8, blanking the defending NECBL champion Vermont Mountaineers, 3-0, with Bellows going 2-for-4 with a double while batting fifth as the starting shortstop. Holyoke then dropped a narrow 3-2 decision at the Manchester Silkworms on Saturday, June 9, before taking Sunday off. They travel to play the Keene Swampbats on Monday, June 11, prior to opening the home portion of their schedule on Tuesday, June 12. Bellows is 2-for-7 in Holyoke’s two games.