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Kevin Pillar

Baseball

Pillar Leads Four All-America and Two Gold Glove National Honors for the Toros

Center fielder Kevin Pillar was recognized for his stellar 2010 campaign
CARSON -- For the second year in a row, the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team garnered national success after a record-setting year with four All-America awards and the first-ever national Gold Glove honors in the program's history, highlighted by Kevin Pillar landing both an honorable mention All-American nod and Gold Glove award.

Grabbing an honorable mention selection on the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) list, Pillar was joined in the All-America limelight by Abel Medina who made the 3rd-team on the NCBWA, Daktronics/NCAA and Rawlings/American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) lists.

Perhaps the biggest award for the Toros came in the Rawlings/ABCA Gold Glove selections, of the nine possible positions in the country, the Toros grabbed two with Pillar taking one of three outfield spots and Carlos Leyva (below) taking home second base honors.

"Defense, after pitching, is the most important component to a successful baseball program," said head coach Murphy Su'a after hearing of his players' accolades.

Carlos Leyva
"To have four recognized as the best in their position in the West region and two in the nation says a lot about the hard work and effort they put in on the field."

Of the nine Gold Glove positions, the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) was well represented with five players from the CCAA, led by two apiece from CSUDH and UC San Diego.

After a record-setting season that saw him land the CCAA Newcomer of the Year honors, Medina capped his inaugural year in the Cardinal & Gold as the second three-time All-American in Toro history.

Also grabbing his first All-America honors, Pillar was named to the ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District team while grabbing CCAA Player of the Week honors early in the season.

Pillar led the Toros in at-bats (240), hits (91) and doubles (22) while Medina clocked in as the team leader in average (.394), home runs (13) and RBIs (64).

After finishing the season with the third-highest fielding percentage in the nation (.972) and the most overall double-plays (66), the Toros' fielding antics did not go unnoticed with Leyva's .983 fielding and 52 double plays turned grabbing him the Gold Glove at second base while Pillar was perfect from center field in 134 chances to grab him an outfield Gold Glove award.

Both Leyva and Pillar will now receive a mounted gold glove award from Rawlings which will be presented to them in the 2011 season at a date to be determined.

The four All-America awards is just one shy of tying last year's high of five, and brings the total amount of All-America awards for the Toros baseball program to 20.

The Toros, who finished the 2010 campaign with a 41-20 overall mark and a three-game run into the NCAA West Region tournament, will look to return Leyva, Pillar and Medina pending the results of the 2010 MLB draft in the first week of June.

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