Higginbothem, Fenwick earn All-America honors

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (June 5, 2013) – Tallahassee Community College baseball teammates Trent Higginbothem and Clay Fenwick were named All-Americans by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) on Wednesday. 

Higginbothem, the Eagles' starting third baseman, earned first-team All-America honors, joining A.J. Johnson (2004) on Tallahassee's list of first-team All-Americans. Fenwick, who earned the award as an outfielder, nabbed All-America recognition as a second-team honoree. 

Tallahassee is one of just two NJCAA Division I schools to have a first- and second-team All-American, and it marks the first time in school history the Eagles have had multiple All-Americans in the same season. 

Higginbothem, a sophomore and native of Pace, Fla., was one of the key cogs in the Eagles' historic 2013 season. Playing in all but one of the team's 56 games, he batted .376 with three home runs and 67 RBI, tops in Region 8 (Florida) and seventh nationally. He also paced the NJCAA with a school-record 25 doubles. 

Fenwick, a sophomore who hails from Jacksonville, Fla., was equally effective and, along with Higginbothem, gave the Eagles a dynamic 1-2 punch in the middle of the lineup. 

In 54 games, Fenwick batted a team-high .431, seventh-best nationally, with two home runs and 54 RBI. He also shared team honors with 65 runs scored, which placed him ninth-best in the nation, and his .522 on-base percentage was a team-high and ranked ninth in the NJCAA. 

Higginbothem was previously named FCSAA State Baseball Player of the Year and the Ellis Dungan Panhandle Conference Player of the Year. Both Higginbothem and Fenwick were named first-team FCSAA All-State and first-team All-Panhandle Conference. 

Higginbothem and Fenwick join Johnson, Michael Ziegler (1999, second-team) and Shawn Pleffner (2009, honorable mention) on the Eagles' list of NJCAA All-Americans. 

Paced by its all-America duo, Tallahassee ended the 2013 season with a 46-10 record, second-most wins in school history, a Panhandle Conference Championship, No. 1 FCSAA ranking, No. 17 NJCAA ranking and No. 11 ranking in Perfect Game's JUCO Top 50.