James Madison senior left-handed pitcher Sean Tierney (Midlothian, Va./Clover Hill) was named to the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Preseason All-America second team as announced on Wednesday.
Tierney, a six foot-five inch lefthanded pitcher from Midlothian, Va., earned the top spot in JMU’s starting rotation midway through last season after sitting out the previous two seasons due to a transfer from Virginia and an injury. From the time he became the ace, he posted a 5-0 record with a 1.99 ERA and .251 opponent average in 45 1/3 innings.
Overall, Tierney finished the season 10-1 with a 3.43 ERA in 63 innings. He was named third-team All-CAA, second-team All-East Region by the American Baseball Coaches Association and claimed CAA All-Tournament honors after pitching the first nine-inning shutout for JMU since 2006, allowing just five hits while striking out six in the CAA opening round against Georgia State.
JMU head coach Spanky McFarland commented on Tierney’s preseason honor, stating, “He was a big part of our success last year. We’ll be leaning on him again this year to get us started on Friday nights.”
Tierney recorded the third-most wins in a single season in school history (10) and was ranked 24th in the nation in wins. He was ninth in the CAA with both a 3.43 ERA and a .254 opponent batting average. He led the CAA in wins (10), was fifth in hits allowed (62) and fourth in runs allowed (30) and earned runs allowed (24).
During league play, Tierney ranked second in the CAA in six categories including ERA (2.55), opponent batting average (.200) and runs allowed (11). He was also third with six league wins and helped lead the Dukes to their first NCAA regional appearance since 2008.
Tierney is the first JMU player to be named to a Preseason All-America team since Matt Townsend received the honor from Collegiate Baseball in 2009. Former teammates Jake Lowery and David Herbek both earned post season All-America honors last season.
The CAA was also represented on the All-America Third Team by outfielder Thomas Pope of UNCW and relief pitcher Jake Dyer of Georgia State.
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