KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Bellevue University senior Steven Elsner (San Francisco, Calif.) has been named a Preseason All-American by the NAIA-Baseball Coaches Association (NAIA-BCA) All-America Committee.
The NAIA-BCA All-America Committee released their 17-player Preseason Baseball All-America Team on Wednesday morning, Jan. 15.
Elsner put up huge numbers in his Bruin debut a season ago, hitting .359 with a 1.199 OPS on his way to earning NSAA Newcomer of the Year, first-team all-NSAA, and CSC Academic All-District honors. He belted 19 home runs of his 34 extra-base hits, totaled 62 RBI, scored 45 runs, and led the team with a .784 slugging percentage and four multi-home run games.
Primarily an outfielder a season ago, Elsner will move to the infield this year, where he is expected to be the Bruins' first baseman. He returns to the position he played as a two-time all-conference selection at the College of Marin before transferring to Bellevue.
The Bruins will have the opportunity to compete against at least three other Preseason All-Americans. It begins when they open the season against third baseman Jaiden Quinn and Concordia (Neb.) University on Saturday, Feb. 8, in Oklahoma City. They will also see starting pitcher Blayne Huter during a three-game series at Webber International University on March 6-8 to close out their annual Florida Trip. Finally, they will compete against designated hitter Noah Castillo in a three-game series at MidAmerica Nazarene on Friday-Saturday, Mar. 14-15, in the teams' first head-to-head match-up since a 5-4 BU win in the 2022 Avista NAIA World Series.
The Bruins are ranked No. 15 in the NAIA Preseason Poll and are just over three weeks away from opening their season with three Top 25 contests in Oklahoma City. Bellevue opens against #20 Concordia at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8, before turning around for a 3 p.m. tilt against #23 Oklahoma City University. BU will wrap up the weekend with an 11 a.m. first pitch against the host Stars on Sunday, Feb. 9.
