Two college baseball players from the greater Plant City area have earned All-American honors, their schools announced.
Florida State’s Parker Messick was named an NCAA Division I Freshman All-American last week by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper for his prowess out of the bullpen. Messick, a Plant City High alumnus, struck out 19 batters and walked two in just under 12 innings in the shortened season. He picked up one win against Niagara and earned a save against Florida in the game that ended FSU’s 11-game losing streak to the Gators.
Methodist University catcher Alex Kachler was named to the College Sports Information Directors of America’s national Academic All-America Division III first team. Kachler, a Strawberry Crest alumni, finished his career at Methodist with a .364 batting average, 86 extra-base hits (including a school record 56 doubles), 183 hits, 147 RBI and 119 runs. He started 129 of the 134 games in which he appeared. He majored in industrial engineering and mathematics and was voted MU’s Senior Athlete of the Year for the 2019-20 school year.