CONTRIBUTED
BY AUBURN UNIVERSITY
AUBURN — After earning all-region honors earlier this week, Sonny DiChiara was named First Team All-America and Blake Burkhalter was named Second Team All-America by the American Baseball Coaches Association. DiChiara also earned First Team All-America recognition from Perfect Game.
The All-America honors are the second and third for DiChiara, who was previously named Second Team All-America by Collegiate Baseball, and first for Burkhalter, who becomes the 33rd player in program history to earn the distinction. Burkhalter is the first relief pitcher since John Madden in 2005 to be named All-America.
The recognition for DiChiara comes after already being named the SEC Co-Player of the Year, First Team All-SEC, a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award and Dick Howser Trophy.
DiChiara leads the league in average (.392), on-base percentage (.560) and slugging percentage (.809). His on-base clip is good for the national lead and is 53 points higher than any other SEC player in the last 10 full seasons.
A native of Hoover, Alabama, DiChiara is tied for second among active Division I players with 63 career home runs, four of which have come in the NCAA Tournament. He has homered 22 times this year and would tie Auburn’s single-season record set by fellow SEC Player of the Hunter Morris in 2010 with his next long ball.
DiChiara has drawn 68 walks this season, the most in the country and the second most in the team’s single-season history, and has reached base in all but two games, including multiple times on 48 occasions.
Burkhalter, who has already been named Second Team All-SEC and a finalist for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year award, leads the conference and ranks second in the country with 15 saves, good for the third most in program history and the most since 2003.
The junior righty recorded the final six outs of Auburn’s regional championship against UCLA and notched a pair of saves in the Corvallis Super Regional against Oregon State, retiring all eight batters he faced Monday, June 13, to send the Tigers to Omaha.
Burkhalter has posted a 4-2 record with a 3.89 ERA and has struck out 66 batters to go along with issuing only seven walks in 44.0 innings.
A native of Dothan, Alabama, Burkhalter earned three saves in as many appearances during the team’s sweep of South Carolina, becoming the first player in program history and the first in the league since 2017 to accomplish the feat.