MALIBU, Calif. " The American Baseball Coaches Association released its 2016 All-American teams today and Pepperdine pitcher A.J. Puckett earned first-team honors.

Already one of the most decorated players in program history, this is Puckett's fourth first-team All-American honor this year after also garnering the recognition from D1Baseball.com, Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America. He is the only Pepperdine player other than Jay Gehrke in 1999 to be named to four major All-American first teams. The junior righty was named to the ABCA's All-West Region Team earlier this week.

Puckett is the 11th Pepperdine player to earn All-American status from the ABCA and the fifth to be named to the organization's first team. Pepperdine's Aaron Brown last received All-American first team recognition from the ABCA in 2014.

Puckett put up the third-best ERA in both Pepperdine and WCC history with a 1.27 mark in what was one of the most remarkable seasons in program history. Puckett finished the year fourth in the NCAA in ERA, 10th in WHIP (0.92) and 16th in hits allowed per nine innings (5.89), also leading the WCC in all three categories. He held opponents to a .191 batting average, all while striking out 95 batters and walking just 26, earning himself WCC Pitcher of the Year honors.

Puckett went 9-3 for the Waves and put up one of the most dominant stretches in NCAA history, tossing 45.2 consecutive scoreless innings and 57.1 consecutive innings without giving up an earned run. Both marks were Pepperdine records and the 45.2 scoreless inning streak was the third longest in NCAA history. Puckett posted eight starts this year in which he did not allow an earned run and seven in which he did not give up a run at all. He also had five starts with at least eight strikeouts and one or fewer walks, including a complete-game shutout of Portland in which he struck out a career-high 12 batters and walked none.

The Waves' ace was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the second round (67th overall) of last week's MLB Draft and has since signed with the club.