Jake Sanford earns Perfect Game mid-season Firsts Team All-American honours

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — With one of the best starts by a Western Kentucky Hilltopper in the program’s 100-year history, WKU Baseball right fielder Jake Sanford (Dartmouth, N.S.) was listed as a Perfect Game Midseason First Team All-American on Wednesday.

He becomes the first Hilltopper All-American since 2016, when third baseman Danny Hudzina was named a Third Team ABCA member at the conclusion of the season. He was a 10th round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals that season and played at class-A Palm Beach last year.

The Dartmouth, N.S., native boasts a .385/.452/.881 slash line through his first 27 games with 42 hits — including 25 of the extra-base variety — 33 runs scored and 43 driven in. He has added 13 walks and two stolen bases, while posting a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage on 60 put-outs and three outfield assists, playing every inning for WKU in right field.

In terms of Division I ranks, Sanford’s 14 homeruns rank second, 43 runs batted in are fifth and 33 runs scored are tied for 19th, while his 96 total bases rank fourth and .881 slugging percentage stands third overall.

After earning his first-career Conference USA Hitter of the Week award on March 25, Sanford has continued to swing a hot bat. He went 12-for-20 — including a .600/.636/1.400 slash line — in four games from March 26-31 with five homeruns, eight runs scored and 15 RBIs, putting his name on the national landscape in the process.

First, he was named only the third back-to-back C-USA Hitter of the Week — and first since 2006 — in league history, which dates back to 1996. He was honored by Perfect Game as the National Player of the Week and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association as the National Hitter of the Week. In addition, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper listed Sanford as 1-of-7 Players of the Week, while College Sports Madness tabbed him as the National Player of the Week.

In D1 Baseball’s Week 6 Power Rankings (published on March 28) Sanford jumped from unranked to No. 46 among the nation’s outfielders.

In Tuesday night’s game at No. 5 Vanderbilt, Sanford went 2-for-4 with a double and one run batted in, posting his 11th multi-hit game of the season against the Commodores. He has reached base safely in 25-of-27 games and has at least one hit in 22 of those contests.