SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento State sophomore pitcher Kade Brown was one of 77 players from across the country named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's preseason All-America second team announced on Friday.
He was the only player from the WAC selected to the preseason team and one of only seven from West Coast schools. Overall, 46 different universities and 16 NCAA Division I conferences were represented on this year's teams.
Brown, who was a Freshman All-America selection by D1 Baseball following the 2024 campaign, became the first Hornet to earn preseason All-America honors since pitcher Brennan Leitao earned a spot on Collegiate Baseball's preseason honor roll in 2015.
Named to the preseason All-Western Athletic Conference team earlier in the week along with teammate JP Smith, Brown enters the 2025 campaign looking to build upon a freshman campaign that saw him finish 3-3 on the mound with a 3.72 ERA and eight saves as Sacramento State's closer. He struck out 54 over 38.2 innings of work while holding opponents to a .189 average and walking 18.
Brown led the WAC in opponent batting average (.189) and saves, ranked second in strikeouts per nine innings (12.57), third in fewest hits allowed (27), and tied for eighth in fewest runs allowed (19). He struck out at least one in all but two of his 22 appearances, and struck out multiple hitters 16 times — including nine consecutive appearances from March 8 to April 14.
Meanwhile, the eight saves were the most by a Hornet freshman since Sutter McLoughlin set the school single-season record with 17 in 2013 and ranked tied for 10th on the school's single-season list and No. 34 in the NCAA.
The Hornets officially open the season with an alternating home-and-home four-game series against Bay Area rival San Francisco on Feb. 14-17. Sacramento State hosts games one and three in the series at John Smith Field and heads to Benedetti Diamond for games two and four.
