Bacon Named Baseball All-American

Alex Bacon, a New Tampa resident, graduate of Tampa Jesuit High and former player for baseball teams in the New Tampa Little League, is now swinging with the big dogs as a star player for the University of North Florida (UNF) in Jacksonville.

Bacon recently was honored with the following honors following the 2011 baseball season: Second Team Freshman All-American, Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American and he also was a unanimous selection to the Atlantic Sun Conference (A-Sun) All-Freshman team. Bacon also was the first UNF player to earn A-Sun Freshman of the Year award.

At Jesuit, he was named UnderArmour All-American in 2009-10, and helped the Tigers win a Regional high school championship. This is in addition to helping Jesuit earn a No. 1 ranking in the Nation in 2009.

Now, Bacon is cooking up the college circuit, where he batted .352 on the season, going 70-for-199 with 46 runs scored, 18 doubles, one triple, 9 home runs and 42 RBIs. He led the team in runs scored, doubles, being hit by pitch, sacrifice flies, games played and outfield assists. Just as impressive, he was second on the team in batting average, slugging percentage, on base percentage, hits, runs batted in, home runs, total bases and games started.

UNF’s stat records show that the 5-foot-8, 165-lb. Bacon also recorded the team’s second longest hitting streak of the year at 11 games.

Bacon, who is studying engineering, comes from a baseball family. His father, Kevin, was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals and his grandfather, Don Bacon, played AAA baseball in the Chicago White Sox organization. His family has lived in New Tampa for more than 15 years.