Brett Sanchez of the Belhaven Baseball team has been named to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List as announced by the organization on Friday. The award is presented to the top amateur baseball player in the country.

Sanchez is the lone Division III player named to the list which features 55 players, 50 of whom compete at the NCAA Division I level. Along with Sanchez, the list features one Division II player, one Junior College player and two high-schoolers.

Sanchez continues to pull in preseason recognition this year as his Golden Spikes Watch List recognition accompanies Division III Preseason All-America First Team honors from the D3baseball.com publication.

The Slidell, Louisiana native had a career year in 2023 going 6-2 across 11 starts with a sparkling 1.81 ERA and 0.88 WHIP. He racked up a career-high 110 strikeouts in 84.1 innings and limited opposition to just a .185 batting average across the year. The veteran starter was named the Division III Pitcher of the Year and First Team All-American by D3baseball following the 2023 campaign.

Sanchez is coming off of a record-setting campaign a year ago as he surpassed Belhaven great Larkin Braxton as the program's all-time strikeouts leader. Across four seasons with Belhaven, the Blazers' ace has a 26-7 record with a 2.08 ERA to go with a program record 19 complete games and a record eight shutouts. In 299.0 innings, Sanchez has struck out 315 batters and limited opposition to a .204 batting average against.

The reigning Collegiate Conference of the South Pitcher of the Year, Sanchez will be looking to finish out his career in the green and gold with another stellar campaign. The Blazers are in their first season under new head coach, Andrew Gipson and looking to build on a strong 2023 conference performance that landed them one of the top seeds in the CCS Tournament.

Last year's Golden Spikes award went to LSU star Dylan Crews who went on to be the 2nd overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.