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BLACKSBURG, Va. - Ten student-athletes from the Atlantic Coast Conference, which includes Virginia Tech’s Andrew Rash, have been named to the 2012 Louisville Slugger preseason All-America baseball team, as selected by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and announced Tuesday.

The redshirt-junior from Anderson, S.C., adds the third-team selection as an outfielder to his National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association preseason All-America third-team honor, announced last week, to his profile. Click the link to see the complete Louisville Slugger preseason team.

“I’m not really big on individual awards, but it feels really good to be named to these teams,” Rash said. “But without Coach (Pete) Hughes, the entire coaching staff and the guys on the team, I would have never have had this opportunity to succeed.

“So, I’m more proud of getting this exposure for Virginia Tech and getting the word out about our program. We are on our way to where Coach Hughes wants this program to be - getting bigger recruits and becoming an elite baseball team. This gets that exposure out there showing that Virginia Tech does have great student-athletes.”

Recapped many times, Rash’s bio includes a 36th-round selection by the San Diego Padres in the 2011 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. He also piled up the postseason accolades after his redshirt-sophomore season. He was named to the All-ACC Academic Team, the All-ACC First Team, the ABCA/Rawlings NCAA All-Atlantic Region First Team and the VaSID All-State First Team and competed in the TD Ameritrade College Home Run Derby in Omaha, Neb.

His numbers in 2011 included a .335 batting average in 51 games started. He finished 11th in the ACC in batting and led the conference in home runs (18) and slugging percentage (.707), was third in total bases (135) and tied for ninth in RBI (53). In the country, he was sixth in home runs per game (0.35), 11th in slugging percentage, 46th in RBI per game (1.04) and 56th in total bases.

Rash becomes the first Hokie to earn a pair preseason nods in two years. Austin Wates was also selected to a pair of preseason teams before the start of the 2010 season – Louisville Slugger (third team, first base) and Baseball America (third team, outfield), then enjoyed a tremendous junior campaign (.382 average, .604 slugging) before being a third-round selection of the Houston Astros in the 2010 MLB draft.

Tech opens its 2012 season at the Kennesaw State Tournament in Kennesaw, Ga., against Bradley on Friday, Feb. 17. First pitch is slated for noon.

For updates on Virginia Tech baseball, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Baseball).