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Texas baseball star Ivan Melendez wins National Player of the Year

James Fletcher IIIby:James Fletcher III•06/02/22•

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David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Texas baseball first baseman Ivan Melendez has been named the Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Year, according to a Thursday release. He also won Collegiate Baseball’s Big 12 Player of the Year award and received first-team All-American honors this season.

Ivan Melendez led Texas to the No. 9 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and a regional host position with his offensive firepower throughout the year. Through 54 regular season games, he leads the country in home runs with 28, slugging percentage at .941 and total bases with 190.

The numbers were also well-rounded, as he finished second in the country in batting average at .421 and second in RBIs with 85. Other notable stats from his season include a .531 on-base percentage and 17 doubles.

His defensive output was also among the best in the country, only committing one error in 489 chances at first base.

Projecting Texas in NCAA Tournament

Texas Baseball earned the No. 9 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and is set to host a regional after finishing 42-19 in the regular season and 14-10 in the Big 12. But getting out of their region may be a tough hill to climb according to D1baseball.com writer Kendall Rogers.

The Longhorns drew two-seed Louisiana Tech and three-seed Dallas Baptist. Plus, they’ll kick off the tournament against four-seed Air Force to round out their regional.

Roger tweeted out “that’s not an easy draw” for Texas. Noting that “Paul Skenes and Air Force gave the #Horns fits earlier this season.” And that “Louisiana Tech/DBU both have some serious upside, too.”

Texas actually played Air Force in a two-game series earlier this season. Skenes, a First-Team All-American, led the way as Air Force embarrassed Texas 14-2 in the first game. The Longhorns took the second game by two runs to split the series, but Air Force was clearly the better team over the course of the pair of games.

So, Texas will face the team that handed them their worst loss of the season to open the NCAA Tournament. The game will be followed by potential matchups with dangerous Dallas Baptist and LA Tech squads just to get out of their regional.