Tanner Craig tabbed as NCBWA Second-Team All-America

For the second time in a day, University of Evansville first baseman Tanner Craig has received a preseason honor, this time being named National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Second-Team All-American, it was announced in a release Wednesday morning.

Craig and Indiana State relief pitcher Tyler Grauer were the lone representatives of The Valley to be recognized with Grauer earning first-team honors. The Scottsburg, Ind. native is the first Ace to earn preseason All-America honors from any publication since Trey Hair prior to the 2017 campaign and the first to receive NCBWA preseason All-America honors since Ben Norton in 2007.

The honor follows a shortened 2020 campaign in which Craig put in a monster performance in 16 games. Craig led the team in home runs (7), OPS (1.238), runs (10), hits (20), RBI (19), total bases (44), slugging percentage (.759), walks (13), and on-base percentage (.479), while finishing second on the team in batting average (.345). Craig was named to Collegiate Baseball’s National Players of the Week, MVC Player of the Week, and to the MVC Scholar-Athlete team in 2020 and has already been named to the 2021 Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award watch list and PerfectGame.com MVC Preseason team.

Evansville opens its season this weekend with a four-game set at SEC foe Georgia, beginning with the season-opener on Friday at 1 PM (CT) in Athens, Ga.