Courtesy of Wichita State Athletics
WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State sophomore designated hitter/left-handed pitcher Payton Tolle has been named Third Team All-American utility player by Perfect Game.
This is the second All-American honor for Tolle, who earlier this week was tabbed to the Second Team by NCBWA.
The full Perfect Game All-America teams can be found HERE.
Tolle was named First Team All-Central Region and First Team All-American Athletic Conference utility player after a breakout season as Wichita State's Saturday starter and designated hitter. The 6'6 lefty went 9-3 with a 4.62 ERA over 15 appearances including 14 starts. Tolle led the conference in wins and innings pitched, finishing the season with 97 strikeouts in 85.2 innings. He held opponents to a .245 batting average, racking up eight quality starts and four starts with 10 or more strikeouts. The native of Yukon, Oklahoma delivered his best start of the season against #7-ranked East Carolina, firing a complete game shutout in which he allowed just two hits and no walks while striking out 10. His season high in strikeouts came on March 19 against Creighton, when he fanned 12 Bluejays over 7.0 innings in a Shocker victory.
Offensively, Tolle hit .311 with 13 home runs and 50 RBI, including homers in the midweek against Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. He produced 20 multi-hit games and 18 multi-RBI games this season, highlighted by a five-hit, six-RBI day against Oakland on March 4. In Wichita State's final home series of the season, the left-handed slugger homered in all three games of the set against South Florida, including a mammoth 491-foot blast on May 13.
Tolle was named one of five finalists for the prestigious John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, the only representative from the American Athletic Conference on the list of finalists.