Dragani, Franklin Earn D1Baseball Freshman All-America Honors
7/5/2018 12:40:00 PM | Baseball
OMAHA, Neb. -- Freshmen Ben Dragani and Jesse Franklin of the University of Michigan baseball team were named D1Baseball Freshman All-Americans, the organization announced Thursday (July 5). Both earned selection to the second team.
A native of Brookfield, Wisconsin, Dragani started his career with the Wolverines in a relief role before breaking into the starting rotation in mid-March and becoming Michigan's Saturday starter. Through 16 appearances, which included 11 starts, the lefty finished the season with six wins at a team-low 2.76 earned-run average. He struck out 54 batters through 75.0 innings pitched and was named to the All-Big Ten third team and all-freshman team.
In his debut season with the Maize and Blue, Franklin led the Wolverines with 10 home runs and 47 RBI on the season, which ranked in the top 10 in the Big Ten Conference. Through 47 games played, the Seattle, Washington, native posted a .327 batting average and a team-best .588 slugging percentage to go with a .379 on-base percentage. He finished second on the team with 54 hits and totaled 11 doubles and a triple along with a team-leading seven sacrifice flies as well as four stolen bases. He earned a unanimous selection to the Big Ten all-freshman team.
Including Dragani and Franklin, the Big Ten had four selections to the D1Baseball Freshman All-America teams. Minnesota pitchers Patrick Frederickson and Max Meyer were the other two honorees from the league.
