Tanis Earns Louisville Slugger All-American Third Team Honors

MACON, Ga. – Mercer baseball sophomore Jacob Tanis was selected as a 2010 Louisville Slugger Third Team All-American as announced by the Collegiate Baseball newspaper on Thursday evening.

“Just an unbelievable accomplishment for Jake who has really matured into one of our team leaders as a sophomore,” head coach Craig Gibson said. “The accolades just keep coming for him, but he deserves it because he has such an amazing attitude and work ethic on and off the field.”

Tanis had a banner year for the Bears, putting up numbers that have not been seen at Mercer in decades. Tanis enters the NCAA Tournament ranking second in the NCAA in RBI, with 86. His RBI total is the second-most in Mercer single-season history and represents the most in the A-Sun since Stetson’s Frank Corr set the conference record with 98 in 2000.

The Peachtree City, Ga. native has already set the school single-season record for total bases with 198 while senior Michael Langley and Tanis have each broke the single-season record for doubles, with 24. His 22 home runs currently rank in a tie for second in Mercer single-season history, just two behind the all-time leader.

The sophomore has now received All-American honors for two-straight seasons after being named a Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American in 2009. This All-American nomination is the third significant award Tanis has collected thus far after being named the Atlantic Sun Championship MVP and garnering an Atlantic Sun All-Conference first team selection.

Tanis is just the second Louisville Slugger All-American during coach Gibson seven-year tenure at Mercer, joining Andrew Urena who was named to the first team in 2006.  

Mercer (37-22, 16-11 A-Sun) will be making its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance on Friday evening when it takes on Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. in game two of the Atlanta Regional.

The game will be played at Russ Chandler Stadium on the campus of Georgia Tech and will be broadcast on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS).