NC State baseball has 5 players earn All-ACC honors
NC State baseball had five players earn All-ACC status after the Wolfpack’s regular season campaign concluded, the league announced Monday afternoon.
Junior catcher Jacob Cozart was named a first-team selection, while graduate third baseman Alec Makarewicz earned second-team honors, and graduate right-handed pitcher Sam Highfill and graduate first baseman Garrett Pennington were picked to the third team.
In addition to that quartet’s honors, freshman reliever Jacob Dudan was named to the ACC’s All-Freshman Team.
Cozart earned a first-team selection after he was second on the Wolfpack with 16 home runs and 55 runs scored. He also accounted for 45 RBI, 15 multi-hit games and 12 multi-RBI games. Cozart has been pivotal in the Pack’s success this season as a defender, too, leading the league with 13 runners caught stealing.
Makarewicz, meanwhile, made the all-conference team in his only season with the Pack. He was a second team All-AAC selection during the 2022 season. He led the Wolfpack in multiple batting categories: batting average (.362), slugging percentage (.718), hits (77), RBI (67), home runs (19) and total bases (153). Makarewicz is currently riding an 18-game hitting streak going into the postseason.
While Cozart and Makarewicz have earned all-league honors in their careers, Highfill made the list for the first time in his career. He led the Wolfpack with 63.2 innings pitched with 65 strikeouts and five wins. NC State is 12-1 in games that Higfill has appeared in this year, including five ranked victories.
Pennington made the third team list as well after he clubbed a team-best 20 doubles and is second on the team with 57 RBI and 73 hits. Pennington is second in the ACC in doubles, while he was inside the top 11 in RBI (57, 11th), batting average (.347, eighth) and slugging percentage (.702, eighth).
Dudan, a young arm anchoring the bullpen, was named to the league’s All-Freshman team after he made a team-best 22 appearances with a tied-high five saves. He logged the most innings of any NC State reliever with 37.2 innings pitched as well.
The Wolfpack will kick off ACC Tournament play Wednesday night against Virginia Tech before it faces Duke on Thursday night. Both games are set for 7 p.m. and will be televised on the ACC Network.
