TIGER RAG NEWS SERVICES
BATON ROUGE – LSU center fielder Derek Curiel and pitcher Casan Evans, who as freshman in 2025 led the Tigers to the national championship, have been named to the D1 Baseball pre-season All-American team.
Curiel was voted to the first team, while Evans made second team. Each had those same designates on the Perfect Game All-American team two weeks ago.
Curiel, who is from West Covina, California, was voted the national Freshman of the Year by D1 Baseball after last season when he played left field. He has moved to center for this season. A second team All-American last year and first team freshman All-American in 2025, Curiel hit a team-high .345 with 20 doubles, two triples, seven home runs, 55 RBIs, and 67 runs.
DEREK CURIEL: BORN TO PLAY BALL
He was named to the College World Series All-Tournament Team after collecting six hits, three RBIs and three runs in LSU’s five games. Curiel hit a team-high .571 in the Tigers’ NCAA Super Regional sweep of West Virginia with one double, one homer, five RBIs and six runs.
Evans, a native of Houston, Texas, was a third team All-America and first team freshman All-American in 2025 as he was 5-1 with 2.05 ERA and seven saves in 19 appearances and three starts. He worked 52 and two-thirds innings with 19 walks, 71 strikeouts and a .228 opponent batting average.
In the CWS, Evans earned a win over UCLA and the save over Arkansas.
LSU opens the 2026 season on Friday, Feb. 13, at 2 p.m. against Milwaukee in Alex Box Stadium.
3 TIGERS AMONG TOP 100 SENIORS IN THE NATION
LSU pitcher Zac Cowan at No. 10, transfer first baseman Zach Yorke of Grand Canyon at No. 22 and pitcher Grant Fontenot at No. 83 were listed this week among the top 100 seniors in college baseball by Perfect Game.
Cowan, a right-hander from Blythewood, South Carolina, was a 2025 first team All-SEC selection, as he was 3-3 on the season with six saves and a 2.94 ERA in 22 appearances with two starts. He worked 52 innings with 12 walks, 60 strikeouts and a .226 opponent batting average. Five of Cowan’s six saves came in SEC regular season games, and he had eight walks and 34 strikeouts in 30 and two-thirds league innings.
Yorke played three seasons at Grand Canyon, batting .328 (199-for-606) with 32 doubles, two triples, 32 homers, 157 RBIs and 127 runs. The product of Campbell, California, holds Grand Canyon career records for homers (32) and RBIs (157) in the school’s NCAA Division I era. He started 48 games in 2025 (44 at first base, four at DH), batting .339 (59-for-174) with 10 doubles, one triple, 13 homers, 46 RBIs and 36 runs.
Fontenot, a native of Lafayette, was redshirted as a true freshman at LSU in 2022 before pitching at McLennan Community College in 2023 and at Texas in 2024. He returned to LSU for the 2025 season, and he appeared in six games, posting one walk and five strikeouts in 5.0 innings while allowing just a .063 opponent batting average.
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