Pintar named Freshman All-American

TUCSON, Ariz. — BYU second baseman Andrew Pintar was named to the 2021 Collegiate Baseball News Freshman All-American team on Wednesday.

The award comes just one week after Pintar was named West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year and was one of 13 players selected to the 2021 All-WCC First Team.

“I’m really happy for Andrew and all the accolades he's received, including being named All-American,” said BYU head coach Mike Littlewood. “He came to us as a walk-on and after one semester earned a scholarship.  The great thing about Pinny’s story is that he kept working and improving until he was hitting in the middle of our lineup. He has turned himself into a legitimate pro prospect through hard work and dedication to his craft. I couldn’t be happier for him.”

A Spanish Fork, Utah native, Pintar finished top 10 in WCC play in 10 offensive categories, including first in total bases (72); second in hits (38), home runs (9) and slugging percentage (.686), third in batting average (.362), RBI (23) and triples (3). He was fourth in runs (23), and ninth in on-base percentage (.427) and at-bats (105). He was named WCC Player of the Week and Collegiate Baseball News National Player of the Week on May 10.

Pintar becomes the sixth Cougar to be named a Collegiate Baseball News Freshman All-American in the past nine seasons under Littlewood. Others to receive the honor include right-handed pitchers Reid McLaughlin (2019) and Drew Zimmerman (2018), outfielder Keaton Kringlen (2016), designated hitter Colton Shaver (2015) and outfielder Jacob Hannemann (2013).