The list of postseason accolades for Jake Burger grew longer over the weekend when the Bears consensus All-American was named the top defensive third baseman in the country as one of nine NCAA Division I standouts selected for the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA Division I Gold Glove Team.
Burger, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s 2016 District VI Player of the Year, became the Bears’ fourth consensus All-American in the last five years Saturday (June 18), when the ABCA bestowed third-team honors on the Chesterfield, Mo., native.
Additionally, fellow Bear Spencer Johnson was a second-team All-America pick of the coaches organization after clubbing a Division I-best 24 home runs this spring
Burger was previously a second-team All-America pick by Collegiate Baseball and a third-team honoree by Baseball America, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and D1Baseball.com. He is just the fourth Missouri State player overall (along with Nick Petree in 2011-13, Mark Bailey in 1980 and 1982 and Ken Watkins in 1969-70) to garner All-America recognition in multiple years and the Bears’ second ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award winner, joining Petree (2013) on that distinguished list of MSU honorees.
The Missouri Valley Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year was a semifinalist for both the Dick Howser Trophy and USA Baseball’s Golden Spikes Award this spring after clubbing 21 homers, good for the No. 2 spot on the Division I home run chart. was tabbed MVC Defensive Player of the Year and was a first-team all-conference pick of the league's coaches at third base for the second season in a row. Burger became the second Bear in as many years to be named the league's top defensive player after committing just two errors in 138 total chances this spring, good for a .986 fielding percentage, including a string of 34 consecutive error-free games to wrap up the season.
Johnson, who earned third-team All-America recognition from the NCBWA earlier last week, was an All-Midwest Region pick of the ABCA, a second-team All-MVC selection and the Bears’ A.E. ‘Ted’ Willis MVP this spring. The Springfield native enjoyed a banner senior campaign, totaling career-best totals for RBIs (70), runs (56), triples (3) and total bases (157), in addition to the top single-season home run total for a Bear since 1999. Johnson led the MVC in walks (46) and slugging percentage (.707) and ranked second in total bases and third in runs, RBIs and sacrifice flies (6).
The ABCA, founded in 1945, is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its 8,200 members represent all 50 states and 23 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association membership has broadened to include eight divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, High School and Youth.
