NOTRE DAME, Indiana — With the season right around the corner, preseason awards and accolades are starting to come in and a pair of Irish juniors made the list. Third basemen Niko Kavadas and relief pitcher Joe Boyle were both named third team Preseason All-Americans by Baseball America on Monday, the first Irish pair to earn recognition this preseason.
Boyle and Kavadas are the first Irish All-Americans since Matt Vierling was named a Freshman All-American by Louisville Slugger in 2016. The Irish are just one of two ACC teams (Miami) to have multiple players selected.
In 2019, Kavadas started all 54 games and led the Irish in home runs (12) and RBI (43) while finishing second on the team in runs (33) and batting average (.274). He continued his strong 2019 with a great summer on the Cape with the Harwich Mariners. He led the Cape Cod League in home runs with 10 and was selected to the All-Star Game.
Boyle routinely tossed triple digits and set career highs in strikeouts (39) and innings pitched (25.2) while pitching in a number of high leverage situations out of the bullpen last year. Boyle joined Kavadas and the Harwich Mariners in the summer and was also selected to the Cape Cod All-Star Game.
Baseball America annually polls major league organizations’ scouting departments to vote on the team and asks that they make their selections based on performance, talent and professional potential.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame opens the season on Friday, February 14th down in Birmingham, Alabama. The Irish will square off for a three-game series against UAB and it will be just the second meeting all-time between the two schools.
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