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Gators pitcher Barco, outfielder Fabian named First-Team Preseason All-Americans

Special to the Sun

Florida Gators left-handed pitcher Hunter Barco and outfielder Jud Fabian have each been named Preseason First-Team All-Americans, as announced by Collegiate Baseball on Tuesday morning.

This marks the second-straight season in which Fabian has been tabbed a Preseason First-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball. For Barco, today's announcement represents his first-career First-Team nod, as the southpaw was handed Preseason Third-Team All-America honors in 2021.

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Florida has now placed two players on Collegiate Baseball's Preseason First Team in each of the last two seasons. One year ago, Fabian was joined by right-handed pitcher Tommy Mace on the list.

Florida outfielder Jud Fabian bats during a game against Florida A&M on March 4, 2020, in Gainesville.

Fabian returns to Florida for a fourth season after producing a 2021 campaign that saw him become just the fifth Gator to hit 20 home runs in a single season en route to collecting Third-Team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball and the NCBWA. Thanks to a .249/.364/.560 batting line with 30 extra-base hits, 51 runs, 46 RBIs and a .971 fielding percentage, Fabian was also named Southeast-ABCA/Rawlings First Team, First-Team All-SEC and to the SEC All-Defensive Team. Overall, the Ocala native is a .249/.366/.512 career hitter with 32 homers, 25 doubles, 102 runs and 85 RBIs in 132 games.

Barco is coming off a 2021 campaign in which he was named to the Newcomer All-SEC Team and Southeast-ABCA/Rawlings All-Region Second Team. While pacing the Gators with 10 wins in a team-high 16 starts, Barco finished the year with a 4.01 ERA, .239 batting average against and 94 strikeouts in 83 innings pitched. The second-year performance came on the heels of a standout freshman season in which Barco went 2-0 with a 1.40 ERA and 26 strikeouts across 19.1 frames.

Barco and Fabian's accolades come just one day after Florida was ranked No. 6 in Collegiate Baseball's Fabulous 50 NCAA Division I preseason poll. The No. 6 ranking signified the 14th-consecutive season in which the Gators cracked the top 25, as well as Florida's sixth appearance inside the top-six nationally across the last-seven campaigns.