Calabrese Named ABCA All-American

GREENSBORO, N.C. – UIC junior Rob Calabrese was named to the 2017 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-America Team, the organization announced on Saturday, June 17. The Staten Island, N.Y., native was placed on the ABCA Third Team.

This is the third different All-America team that has included Calabrese following his breakout campaign in 2017. He was also named to the Collegiate Baseball Second Team and the Perfect Game/Rawlings Third team earlier this month. He is the only player representing the Horizon League on the ABCA/Rawlings All-America team.

Also this week, Calabrese was selected by the San Francisco Giants in the 10th round of the 2017 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He is set to forgo his final season of eligibility at UIC in order to begin his professional career this weekend.

Calabrese batted a team-best .353 on the season, including a mark of .383 in Horizon League play. The third-year standout tallied eight home runs, 23 doubles and 53 RBI as he helped UIC match the school record for wins in a season with 39. He slugged .583 and got on base at a clip of .425. At one point during the season Calabrese reached base safely in 42 consecutive games, the program's longest such streak since 2006. His 23 two-baggers in 2017 rank 14th in the NCAA and tied for third on UIC's single-season leaderboard with another All-American Flame, Curtis Granderson.

The Staten Island, N.Y., native started all 56 games for UIC, including 52 behind the dish. He worked closely with a pitching staff that posted not only the second-best earned-run average in the NCAA at 2.65, but also the best in program history. Calabrese played an integral part in the team's school-record 11 shutouts and the squad's fielding percentage of .984, which leads the country entering the College World Series this weekend.

Calabrese helped lead the Flames to the NCAA Championship for the first time since 2008 by winning the Horizon League Championship at Granderson Stadium on May 27. UIC was sent to the Hattiesburg Regional and the catcher claimed a spot on the All-Region Team by driving in a team-best five runs in two games for the Flames.

Calabrese is one of three Flames were tabbed to represent UIC on the 2017 Mideast American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-Region Team, the organization announced on June 14. Senior starting pitcher Jake Dahlberg and redshirt sophomore reliever Alex Padilla were also each voted onto the First Team.

For the complete list of ABCA/Rawlings All-America selections, please click here.