West Texas A&M Baseball's Joe Corbett and Kyle Kaufman earned the highest honor possible in Division II Baseball with All-American selection by the Division II Conference Commissioner's Association (D2CCA). Corbett was also named the Ron Lenz National Pitcher of the Year by the association to become the first Lone Star Conference student-athlete to ever claim the accolade.
Corbett and Kaufman become the 9thand 10thAll-Americans in program history earlier this week to join Tim Dubrule (1997), Adam DeLaGarza (2010), Kendall Boone (2011), Jess Cooper (2011), Dylan James (2013, 2014), Tyler McKnight (2014), Paul Lujan (2015) and Marshall Kasowski (2017).
Corbett earned his second National Pitcher of the Year honors this week as the senior finished the campaign with an incredible 2.44 ERA as he went 12-1 on the season with five complete games in 92.1 innings of work with 136 strikeouts and an opposing batting average of just .196. The Edmond, Oklahoma native become the program's all-time leader in victories (23) and strikeouts (231) while also breaking his own single-season wins mark in 2019.
Kaufman made an immediate impact on the diamond for the Buffs after graduating from the University of Alabama this past December as the utility player earned his second All-America honor of the week with a Third Team selection by the D2CCA. The Forney product finished the season hitting .400 with 18 doubles, three triples and eight homeruns to drive in 59 RBI with 126 total bases for a slugging percentage of .646 to go along with 25 walks for an on-base clip of .478. Kaufman split time between first base, catcher and designated hitter as he registered 336 putouts with 22 assists and just two errors for a fielding percentage of .994.
The Buffs recently concluded their 2019 campaign with an overall record of 41-12 to set a new program record for victories in a single season, WT claimed their third Lone Star Conference Tournament Title in the last four seasons while making an appearance in the NCAA Division II Baseball Postseason for the sixth straight season.
-West Texas A&M University
