Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, Texas – The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) baseball team learned on Thursday that junior left fielder Brandon Pimentel is part of the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award (BBNCSA) Watch List.
The BBNCSA, created by the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation in 2017, was open to nominations from all NCAA Division I baseball programs in the country. The award is based on performance at the plate, academics, and personal integrity.
This year’s watch list consists of 51 players representing 19 conferences. The list includes 11 seniors, 35 juniors and five sophomores. Pimentel is one of 11 players to be named to both the 2022 and 2023 watch lists. Pimentel is also the only player in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) on the list.
This is the second-straight year in which Pimentel has been nominated for the BBNCSA. He’s the fifth Vaquero to earn the recognition following Coleman Grubbs (2019), Ivan Estrella and Austin Siener (2018), and Jose Garcia (2017)
A 2023 Preseason All-WAC, 2022 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings NCAA Division I All-Central Region Second Team and 2022 All-WAC Second Team selection, Pimentel hit .377/.427/.619 with 12 home runs, tied for the fifth-highest single-season total in program history, 17 doubles, tied for the eighth-highest single-season total in program history, two triples, 146 total bases, the second-highest single-season total in program history, 47 RBI and 54 runs scored. He also ranked third in program history with 89 hits. Pimentel recorded 27 multi-hit games, including four of three hits, three of four hits, and one of five hits, and nine multi-RBI games, including four of at least three RBI.
“We are entering the third year as a National College Baseball Award and this is certainly the deepest watch list so far, with a record number of nominations,” said Tracy Taylor, Executive Director of the Bobby Bragan Youth Foundation and the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award. “We truly appreciate the partnership we have with the Division I college baseball programs and the diligence with which they approach the criteria of the nominations.”
The winner of the BBNCSA will be announced in June and honored at a gala in the fall at the Fort Worth Club. Texas Tech’s Hunter Hargrove won the initial BBNCSA in 2017. Dallas Baptist’s Devlin Granberg took home the honor in 2018 with Texas Tech’s Josh Jung winning the award in 2019. Connor Norby from East Carolina University won the BBNCSA in 2021. Last year’s winner was Ivan Melendez from the University of Texas.
Fans can follow news about the Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award presented by SR Bats and its Player of the Week honorees during the season at BraganSlugger.com.
UTRGV opens the season on Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Houston Christian. The full season schedule can be found at GoUTRGV.com.
Season and single-game tickets are on sale and can be purchased online at UTRGVTickets.com or by contacting the UTRGV Ticket Sales and Operations team of Eddie Galvan (956-222-2935) and Ryela Rodriguez (956-329-0884) over the phone or through email at tickets@utrgv.edu.
2023 Bobby Bragan National Collegiate Slugger Award Watch List
Name YR School
Austin Bost SR Texas A&M
Drew Brutcher JR South Florida
Michael Carico JR Davidson
Cole Carrigg JR San Diego State
Dylan Crews JR LSU
Danny Crossen SR Northeastern
Drew Cowley SR Oregon
Chase Davis JR Arizona
Elijah Dickerson JR Towson
Ian Farrow JR Miami
Jackon Feltner JR Morehead State
Jaime Ferrer SO Florida State
Kasten Furr JR New Orleans
Jake Gelof JR Virginia
Dario Gomez SR Miami
Jace Grady JR Dallas Baptist
Carter Graham JR Stanford
Caden Grice JR Clemson
LuJames Groover III JR NC State
Brodey Heaton JR Belmont
Lane Hoover SR East Carolina
Jake Hyde JR Georgetown
CJ Kayfus JR Miami
Will King JR Eastern Kentucky
Nick Kurtz SO Wake Forest
Noah Ledford SR Georgia Southern
Zach Levenson JR Miami
Aidan Longwell JR Kent State
Carter Mathison SO Indiana
Cole McConnell JR Louisiana Tech
Cam McDonald SR Illinois
Jacob McKeon SR Washington State
Brett Minnich SR Texas A&M
Yohandy Morales JR Miami
Jack Moss JR Texas A&M
Brandon Pimentel SR UTRGV
Andrew Pickney JR Alabama
Brock Rodden JR Wichita State
Tanner Smith SR Oregon
Daunte Stuart JR Northwestern State
Aidan Sweatt JR North Florida
Ryan Targac JR Texas A&M
Brayden Taylor JR TCU
Anthony Tulimero JR Houston
Miguel Useche JR New Orleans
Jacob Walsh SO Oregon
Trevor Wener JR Texas A&M
Trace Willhote SO Lipscomb
Brock Wilken JR Wake Forest
Issac Williams JR New Orleans
