FORT MYERS, Fla. - Junior southpaw Chris Sale was named Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Year as the publication released its All-American teams today.

Sale was also named a Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I First-Team All-American. The Lakeland, Fla. native becomes the first Division I National Player of the Year and also the first Division I All-American in Florida Gulf Coast baseball program history. He is FGCU's second DI All-American (Cheyenne Jenks; Softball - 2009).

The 17-man first team, chosen by performances up to regional playoffs and picked by the staff of Collegiate Baseball newspaper, features 14 conference players or pitchers of the year, including:

• LHP Chris Sale, Florida Gulf Coast (Pitcher of Year A-Sun Conference).
• LHP Drew Pomeranz, Mississippi (Pitcher of Year Southeastern Conference).
• LHP Daniel Bibona, U.C. Irvine (Pitcher of Year Big West Conference).
• RHP Alex Wimmers, Ohio St. (Pitcher of Year Big Ten Conference).
• RHP Cole Green, Texas (Pitcher of Year Big 12 Conference).
• LHP Danny Hulzen, Virginia (Pitcher of Year Atlantic Coast Conference).
• C Yasmani Grandal, Miami, Fla. (Player of Year Atlantic Coast Conference).
• 1B Paul Hoilman, East Tennessee St. (Player of Year Atlantic Sun Conference).
• 3B Garrett Wittels, Florida International (Player of Year Sun Belt Conference).
• SS Ryan Soares, George Mason (Player of Year Colonial Conference).
• OF Gary Brown, Cal. St. Fullerton (Player of Year Big West Conference).
• OF Alex Dickerson, Indiana (Player of Year Big Ten Conference).
• DH C.J. Cron, Utah (Player of Year Mountain West Conference).
• UT Kolbrin Vitek, Ball St. (Player of Year Mid-American Conference).

"It's mind-boggling to be on lists with a bunch of really good players," Sale said. "It's really satisfying and just awesome. Every time I pitched, I just wanted to give my team a chance to win, and I gave everything I had for every game. I gave it 110 percent and I can feel good about myself because I did everything I could the whole season to help the team and myself succeed."

Tuesday, Sale, the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Pitcher of the Year, was named a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the nation's best amateur player. Five finalists will be announced June 8. The Golden Spikes Award will be presented at MLB's All-Star FanFest in Anaheim, Calif., on July 13.

Sale, who is projected to go as high as fourth overall in Monday night's first round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, wrapped up his 2010 campaign owning an 11-0 record with two saves and a 2.01 ERA in 17 appearances. He also racked up a nation's-best 146 strikeouts with just 14 walks for a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 10.4-to-1 for the year. The Eagles' lefthander, who earned 2010 First Team All-Atlantic Sun honors, led the A-Sun in all three of the pitching Triple Crown categories during the regular season - an unblemished 10-0 record, a 1.97 ERA and 135 strikeouts. His 146 strikeouts during the 2010 campaign places him in fifth place on the A-Sun's single season strikeouts list (tied with FIU's Evan Thomas; 1995) and is the most in the league since Justin Pope of UCF sat down 158 in 2001.

Sale also was named the Most Valuable Pitcher and the Top Prospect of the prestigious Cape Cod League last summer after going 4-2 with a 1.57 ERA with 57 strikeouts and nine walks for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. He was a first-team All-Atlantic Sun selection after going 7-4 with a 2.72 ERA (89.1 innings) and 104 strikeouts as a sophomore.