EVANSVILLE, Ind. – University of Evansville graduate outfielder Mark Shallenberger (St. Louis, Mo./Priory) earned his second All-America honor of the 2024 season on Wednesday morning, as he was named Second-Team All-America by D1Baseball.com. Shallenberger is the first Purple Ace to earn multiple All-America honors in the same season since Kevin Kaczmarski in 2015.
Shallenberger also captured American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings Third-Team All-America honors in a vote of collegiate head coaches earlier in June. D1Baseball.com is considered by many as the top on-line website focused on collegiate baseball.
Shallenberger earned All-America honors after a season in which he earned first-team all-Missouri Valley Conference honors and Greenville (N.C.) Regional All-Tournament team honors for the Purple Aces. He finished the 2024 season ranked in the NCAA’s Top 100 in 11 different offensive categories, including ranking 13th nationally in on-base percentage, a category he has ranked among the nation’s top 25 in for much of the season. Shallenberger set program records for both runs scored (72) and hit-by-pitches (28), while posting the second-highest single-season hit total in UE history with 91.
Overall, Shallenberger hit a team-best .374 with a team-high 21 doubles, two triples, 17 home runs and 64 RBI. He hit arguably the biggest home run in UE baseball history with a game-winning three-run home run in UE’s 6-5 victory over East Carolina to win the Greenville (N.C.) Regional and advance Evansville to its first-ever NCAA Tournament Super Regional appearance.
Shallenberger now joins an elite fraternity of UE players to earn multiple All-America honors in the same season. Shallenberger joins a list that includes only Andy Benes (1988), Cody Fick (2011), Kyle Freeland (2014), and Kevin Kaczmarski (2015) as the only UE players to earn All-America honors from multiple publications or groups in the same season.
Evansville went 39-26 this season, advancing on to the 2024 NCAA Tournament by winning the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament title. The Purple Aces won the Greenville (N.C.) Regional Tournament and forced #1 national seed Tennessee to the “if necessary” game three of the Knoxville Super Regional in UE’s first-ever NCAA Super Regional Tournament appearance.
