3 Razorbacks named All-Americans by NCBWA

Arkansas reliever Kevin Kopps throws a pitch during a game against Nebraska in the NCAA Fayetteville Regional at Baum-Walker Stadium on June 5, 2021.

FAYETTEVILLE — Three Arkansas baseball players were voted 2021 All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Relief pitcher Kevin Kopps earned first-team honors, starting pitcher Patrick Wicklander was voted to the second team and outfielder Christian Franklin was voted to the third team.

Arkansas has had 30 individuals earn All-America status 35 times.

Kopps finished with a 12-1 record and 11 saves. He had college baseball’s lowest ERA (0.90) and WHIP (0.76), and struck out 131 in 89 2/3 innings.

Opposing hitters had a .162 average against Kopps.

Collegiate Baseball Newspaper named Kopps its national player of the year and he was voted SEC pitcher of the year by league coaches. He was twice the NCBWA’s pitcher of the month.

Kopps is a finalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award — college baseball’s two most prominent individual awards for national player of the year. He is a finalist for the Stopper of the Year Award as the nation’s best relief pitcher.

The Howser Trophy will be presented Friday and Stopper of the Year will be presented Saturday. The Golden Spikes Award will be presented sometime in July.

Wicklander, who began the season as a reliever, gave Arkansas a solid No. 1 starter during SEC play. The left hander who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes prior to the season finished with a 7-1 record and 2.09 ERA in 77 2/3 innings.

The Razorbacks won 11 of 13 games started by Wicklander, including the final 10. He was a Collegiate Baseball national player of the week May 24 following a career-high 13 strikeouts against Florida. SEC coaches voted him second-team All-SEC.

Franklin is the first Arkansas center fielder to earn All-America since Andrew Benintendi was the consensus national player of the year in 2015. Franklin made several highlight-reel plays from center throughout the season, including diving catches or home-run robbing catches in close games.

Franklin batted .274 with 13 home runs and 54 RBI. He also hit 15 doubles and 2 triples, and had an OPS of .964.

Franklin was voted second-team All-SEC and was on the league’s all-defensive team.

The Razorbacks finished the season with a 50-13 record. Arkansas, which was the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, was eliminated by North Carolina State with a 3-2 loss Sunday in the final game of the NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional.

Arkansas All-Americans

Tim Lollar, LHP/DH, 1978

Ronn Reynolds, C, 1979

Steve Kruger, LHP, 1980

Kevin McReynolds, OF, 1980-81

Jeff King, 3B, 1985-86

Mike Loggins, OF, 1985

Ralph Kraus, OF, 1986

Andy Skeels, C, 1987

Troy Eklund, OF, 1989

Greg D'Alexander, 3B, 1990

Phillip Stidham, RHP, 1990-91

Kenderick Moore, 2B, 1996

Ryan Lundquist, OF, 1997

David Walling, RHP, 1998-99

Charlie Isaacson, RHP, 1999

Nick Schmidt, LHP, 2006-07

Jess Todd, RHP, 2007

Zack Cox, 3B, 2010

Brett Eibner, RHP/OF, 2010

Matt Reynolds, 3B, 2012

Ryne Stanek, RHP, 2013

Andrew Benintendi, OF, 2015

Blaine Knight, RHP, 2018

Carson Shaddy, 2B, 2018

Isaiah Campbell, RHP, 2019

Matt Cronin, LHP, 2019

Jack Kenley, 2B, 2019

Christian Franklin, OF, 2021

Kevin Kopps, RHP, 2021

Patrick Wicklander, LHP, 2021