FORT MYERS, Fla. - Preseason accolades for FGCU's Evan Dempsey continued to roll in Tuesday as D1Basball.com listed the Eagles two-way player on its Preseason All-America First Team. 

Dempsey, listed both in the utility role and as a starting pitcher, is the only position player from a non-P4 conference to earn Preseason All-America First Team honors from D1Baseball.com and earned two of the only nine preseason accolades issued to non-P4 conference players. He represents two of the five (40%) preseason accolades awarded to Florida players. 

He also earned first team preseason honors from Perfect Game in a two-way capacity as well, garnering two of the six (33%) accolades issued to players in Florida and two of the nine (22%) issued to non-P4 players.  

Dempsey is one of four players who earned first-team All-America honors after the 2025 season and returned to earn first-team Preseason All-America honors in 2026. He is joined by Miami third baseman Daniel Cuvet, Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress and FUCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky. 

This marks the second preseason honor for Dempsey from D1Baseball.com, after he was named to its 2026 All-Loyalty Team earlier this month. Dempsey was also named Preseason All-America First Team by Perfect Game as well. 

A Consensus All-American last season, Dempsey received the 2025 John Olerud Award, presented by the College Baseball Foundation to the nation's top two-way player. He was named National 2-Way Player of the Year by Perfect Game and earned First Team All-American honors as a two-way player from Baseball America. Both D1Baseball and the College Baseball Foundation recognized him as a First Team utility player. He was also named a Second Team All-American by the American Baseball Coaches Association. 

On the mound, Dempsey went 5-1 with a 1.97 ERA in 15 appearances, including 10 starts. The sophomore logged 68.2 innings, striking out 75 and walking 20. Of the 57 hits he allowed, only six went for extra bases. Opponents batted just .225 against him. In his final start of the season, on four days' rest, Dempsey pitched five innings to lead FGCU to a 6-5 win over Stetson, clinching a share of the Atlantic Sun Conference championship. 

As an outfielder, the Tampa native played in all 60 games, starting 59. He batted .309 with 71 hits, including 18 doubles and three home runs, for a .435 slugging percentage. He scored 41 runs, drove in 30 and was a perfect 14-for-14 on stolen base attempts, tying for the team lead. 

Defensively, Dempsey committed just one error in 99 chances, recording 86 putouts and 12 assists—including two from the outfield—for a .990 fielding percentage. 

D1BASEBALL.COM 

D1Baseball's editors and national writers select the preseason All-America teams with one guiding principle in mind: to identify the best and most valuable college baseball players for the 2026 season. Past performance and future potential factor into the deliberations, but the goal is neither to identify the best future major leaguers nor to reward the players who have put up the gaudiest numbers in past seasons (particularly since the level of competition varies significantly from one conference to another). The objective is to select the players who would provide the most value for a team that wanted to win the College World Series in 2026 — the players who are best equipped to perform against elite college competition this spring. 

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW 

Season tickets, Mini Plans and single-game tickets for all 31 games at Swanson Stadium can now be obtained at FGCUtickets.com or by calling 1-866-FGCU-TIX. Tickets for each game start as low as $12. Season tickets and Mini Plans remain on sale for fans that want to take advantage of an even better deal. 

The Eagles begin the season with a 12-game home stand as part of a home schedule that features Summit League Champion North Dakota, Boston College, Minnesota and an Indiana State program that has been to the NCAA Regionals in two of the past three years. 

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA 

For more information on the Eagles, follow FGCU Baseball on Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook, and visit FGCUathletics.com. 

D1Baseball.com Preseason All-America Teams 

Perfect Game Preseason All-America Teams