MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Missouri State's Nick Petree and Southern Illinois' Chris Serritella were both named All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association last week. Petree was a first team honoree, while Serritella was named to the third team.

Nick Petree, Missouri State
Petree was one of five Division I starting pitchers named 2012 First-Team All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Wednesday. Petree, the NCBWA's District VI Player of the Year, is the first MSU pitcher and just the third Bear overall to garner first-team All-America accolades from the baseball writers after posting one of the most dominant seasons in school history to help the Bears (40-22) earn their first NCAA Tournament bid in nine years.

Petree, who was named National Player of the Year and a first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball in late May, went 10-4 with a 1.01 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 115.1 innings pitched in 2012 to lead a dominant Bears' pitching staff that currently leads the nation in team ERA (2.57) and shutouts (11), while ranking third in Division I with a school-record 537 strikeouts on the season.

Last week, Petree became the first Bear to earn a District Player of the Year citation in the 13 years the NCBWA has awarded the honor, and the Clinton, Mo., product was previously named a semifinalist for both the NCBWA's Dick Howser Trophy and USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award. The right-hander is the first Bear to earn first-team All-America honors from the NCBWA since Matt Cepicky received the same citation in 1999. Steve Hacker is the only other Bear to garner first-team accolades from the baseball writers.

Petree is the third Bear to earn MVC Pitcher of the Year honors from the MVC in the last five seasons and the fifth MSU hurler overall to win the same award. He turned in the nation's longest scoreless-inning streak this season, working a Missouri State-record 38.1 consecutive shutout frames from April 6-May 17, as well as 73.0 straight innings without giving up an earned run (March 2-May 17). Petree's 1.01 earned run average leads all of Division I entering the College World Series and he also paces the Missouri Valley Conference in victories after becoming just the seventh pitcher in school history to surpass the 100-strikeout plateau in a season, finishing with 114 punchouts on the year to rank 16th nationally and third on MSU's single-season list.

Chris Serritella, Southern Illinois
SIU first baseman Chris Serritella has been named a National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Third-Team All-American, the NCBWA announced on Wednesday.

Last week Serritella was voted the NCBWA District Player of the Year for District V, which includes all Division I schools in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

This is the third All-America team to recognize Serritella following his record-breaking junior season at SIU this spring. He has also been named a Louisville Slugger All-American and a College Sports Madness All-American. He is the 13th player in program history to earn All-American honors and the first since Doug Shields was a Third-Team All-American in 1990.

In addition Serritella earned All-Missouri Valley Conference First-Team honors and was selected to the MVC All-Tournament Team after helping the Salukis to the championship game.

Serritella, who was drafted and signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in the fourth round last week, won the MVC batting title with a .389 average and led the conference in seven other statistical categories. He was two RBI away from becoming the conference’s first triple crown winner since 1999. He also set single-season school records with 24 doubles and 156 total bases, and his 91 hits were one shy of the school record. His 30 home runs are third most in school history, and his .367 career batting average is the fifth highest in school history.