NC State baseball places seven on All-ACC Teams

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Seven members of the No. 15 NC State baseball team were named to the 2021 All-Atlantic Coast Conference Teams, as announced by the league office on Monday afternoon.

Jonny Butler, Terrell Tatum and Jose Torres were all named First Team All-ACC, Tyler McDonough and Austin Murr earned Second Team All-ACC honors while Reid Johnston and Evan Justice were tabbed Third Team All-ACC. Torres was additionally named to the ACC All-Freshman Team for a combined eight awards amongst the seven players.

The seven players are the most among all teams in the conference who garnered All-ACC honors.

Jonny Butler | JR | OF | First Team All-ACC

Butler, a Channahon, Ill., native, is one of the hottest hitters in the NCAA right now, as he finished the regular season with a league-best .406 clip and finished out the portion of the season with 11 consecutive multi-hit games. He also batted .393 in conference action, which is the highest clip among all ACC players, and ranks second among the team with 12 home runs, eight of which have come since April 25.

He has started 39 games this year in the outfield as he missed four due to COVID-19 protocols, and leads the team with 20 multi-hit games and 12 multi-RBI outings. He additionally leads the conference with 1.62 hits per game and 1.21 runs per game.

Terrell Tatum | JR | DH | First Team All-ACC

Tatum is on track to turn in the best season of his career, as he ranks third in the ACC in conference-only games with a .370 batting average. Ten of his 11 home runs this year came in ACC play, and that number is tied for the fifth-most among the league. The Collierville, Tenn., native additionally finished with a .676 slugging percentage and .457 on-base percentage in conference action, which are the second and fourth-best marks, respectively, this year in both categories.

He has started 30 of 38 games this year as the team’s designated hitter and currently owns a team-best 15-game reached base streak.

Jose Torres | FR | SS | First Team All-ACC/Freshman All-ACC

Torres, who has been tabbed one of the nation’s top shortstops, batted .302 in ACC play and 18 of his 38 hits were for extra bases. He has made 38 starts in the 40 games he has played as he missed the first three games of the season due to injury. The Baltimore, Md., native finished among the top five among all freshmen in the ACC in six different offensive categories, including a league-leading three triples, and committed just four errors in league play at shortstop to turn in a .970 fielding percentage.

Tyler McDonough | SO | OF | Second Team All-ACC

McDonough, who hails from Liberty Township, Ohio, has been one of the most consistent players in the league. He held a 53-game reached base streak until May 11, which dated back to the beginning of the 2020 season, and has reached safely in 42 of 43 games this year. He ranks among the top 10 in the league in batting average (.341), doubles (15), home runs (13) and slugging percentage (.654).

In his career he has spent a majority of his time in the outfield but has also played in the infield, and has committed just one error in 120 starts (121 games played) which came on March 20 of this year.

This is his second postseason award from the league in his career, as he was named to the ACC All-Freshman Team in 2019.

Austin Murr | JR | 1B | Second Team All-ACC

Murr has turned in strong numbers so far in his first full season with the Pack, as he is slashing .316/.531/.374 on the year and those percentages all rank among the top five on the team. In ACC play his 31 runs, 43 hits, nine doubles, two triples and six homers all rank top three among the Wolfpack’s lineup. From February 27 to April 14 he held a 20-game streak of reaching base safely, including a 13-game hit streak.

The Denmark Township, Minn., native has played all 58 games of his career, including 57 starts, at first base, and has not committed an error thus far. 

Evan Justice | JR | RP | Third Team All-ACC

Justice, who hails from Richmond, Va., finished the regular season with seven saves, which are the second-most for a relief pitcher among the conference in ACC-only games. After spending the first four weeks as a starter, he transitioned back to a reliever and since March 29 he has picked up three wins and compiled a 2.00 earned-run average in 27.0 innings pitched in the role. In his 13 relief appearances he earned a decision in 10 of them.

Reid Johnston | JR | SP | Third Team All-ACC

For Johnston, an Enfield, N.C. native, this is his second postseason award from the league in his career as he collected ACC All-Freshman honors in 2018. On March 26 at North Carolina he tossed his second career complete game in the team’s 9-2 win. In his eight starts in ACC action he went at least 6.0 innings on the mound, and compiled a 4.60 ERA on the year with a team-leading 71.2 innings pitched.

He ranks 10th in the ACC with a team-leading 69 strikeouts, and reached the 200-milestone in career strikeouts last weekend when he fanned a career-best 13 on May 20 vs. then-No. 9 Florida State.