Gordon Named Wallace Award Semifinalist

LUBBOCK, Texas ? University of Nebraska third baseman Alex Gordon (Lincoln, Neb.) was honored Monday, as one of 13 semifinalists for the 2005 Brooks Wallace College Player-of-the-Year Award.

Gordon, who was chosen as the Big 12 Player of the Year by the Rosenblatt Report on Monday, enters this week’s Big 12 Tournament hitting .396 with 16 homers and 53 RBIs. The first-team All-American has started all 58 games for the fourth-ranked Huskers and ranks among the Big 12 leaders in 11 of 12 categories.

The original 64 members of the watch list were trimmed to 13 players by the College Baseball Foundation on Monday, as Gordon and Texas shortstop Seth Johnston were the only two Big 12 players chosen as semifinalists. 

The CBF National Selection Committee will narrow the list to three finalists following the NCAA Super Regionals, with an announcement in Omaha on June 16.  The finalists, with their head coaches and parents, will be invited to Lubbock, Texas, for a golf tournament and a schedule of related activities, in addition to the award banquet.  The trophy and winners will become part of the permanent display in the College Baseball Hall of Fame Museum currently under construction.

Kurt Suzuki of Cal State Fullerton won the 2004 Brooks Wallace Award, and the awards’ lineage includes former Player of the Year winners Andy Benes, Ben McDonald, Mike Kelly, Bobby Jones, Mike Smith, Darren Dreifort, Jason Varitek, Mark Kotsay, Kris Benson, Lance Berkman, Brad Wilkerson and Jason Jennings.

The selection committee for the Wallace Award is comprised of a select national panel of coaches, sports information directors, former winners and beat media (print, radio and television) who most closely follow the sport on a daily basis.

The annual award banquet will be held on Thursday, June 30th at 7 p.m., and hosted at the United Spirit Arena, on the campus of Texas Tech University.  Information regarding the sale of individual tickets, as well as group and corporate tables to the VIP event, is available by calling (806) 723-8232 or via the CBF website: www.collegebaseballfoundation.org

The one-hour Wallace Award presentation will debut on Fox Sports Southwest, on Monday, July 4th at 8 p.m. (CDT), and will be carried nationally by FSN affiliates such as Sun Network, Fox Sports Southeast, FSN Arizona, FSN Northwest and FSN West, among others.

Dedicated to the memory of the former Texas Tech player and assistant coach, Wallace was a slick-fielding shortstop at Texas Tech from 1977 to 1980.  A four-year starter, he was named All-Southwest Conference and All-District Six his senior year, when he led the Red Raiders to their first-ever appearance in the Southwest Conference Tournament.  After playing two years in the Texas Rangers organization, he returned to Texas Tech and served as a graduate assistant, and later as an assistant coach.  In the summer of 1984 he was diagnosed with cancer and fought the disease courageously until his death on March 24, 1985, at age 27. 

2005 Wallace Award Semi-Finalists.
Lance Broadway, TCU, P, Jr., Grand Prairie, Texas     
Ryan Patterson, LSU, OF, Sr., Rowlett, Texas
Cesar Carillo, Miami, P, Jr., Chicago, Ill.    
Trevor Crowe, Arizona, OF, Jr., Portland, Ore.     
Ricky Romero, Cal State Fullerton, P, Jr., East Los Angeles, Calif.
Jacoby Ellsbury, Jr., Oregon State, OF, Jr., Madras, Ore.   
Alex Gordon, Nebraska, 3B, Jr., Lincoln, Neb   
Luke Hochevar, Tennessee, P, Jr., Fowler, Colo.
Brian Bogusevic, Tulane, P/DH, Jr., Oak Lawn, Ill.
Brian Pettway, Ole Miss, OF, Jr., Vicksburg, Miss.
Seth Johnston, Texas, SS, Jr., Boerne, Texas   
Ian Kennedy, USC, P, Soph., Huntington Beach, Calif.
Shane Robinson, Florida State, OF, Soph., Tampa, Fla.

10 Huskers Honored by Rosenblatt Report
COLLEGE STATION ? Alex Gordon, Joba Chamberlain and Head Coach Mike Anderson were among the 10 Husker players and coaches honored by the Rosenblatt Report, a website that extensively covers the Big 12 Conference baseball scene.

Gordon was selected as the publication’s Big 12 Player of the Year for the second straight year after hitting .396 with 16 homers and 53 RBIs entering the Big 12 Tournament. Chamberlain was chosen as the publication’s Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, going 7-2 with a 2.46 ERA and 106 strikeouts in 91.1 innings, while Anderson was the publication’s choice for coach of the year, as he guided the Huskers to a share of the Big 12 title, the second conference crown in Anderson’s three years at Nebraska.

The Huskers were well represented on the first team with Gordon, Chamberlain and first baseman Curtis Ledbetter, who hit .319 with 13 homers and 47 RBIs. A pair of Husker pitchers were tabbed for the second team, reliever Brett Jensen and freshman Johnny Dorn. Four other Huskers ? Daniel Bruce, Brian Duensing, Zach Kroenke and Dustin Timm ? garnered honorable-mention accolades

First Team
1B Curtis Ledbetter ? Nebraska (.319, 13 HR, 47 RBI)
3B Alex Gordon ? Nebraska (.396, 16 HR, 53 RBI)
SP Joba Chamberlain ? Nebraska (7-2, 2.46 ERA, 91.1 IP)

Second Team
SP Johnny Dorn ? Nebraska (9-1, 1.96 ERA, 78 IP)
CP Brett Jensen ? Nebraska (1.89 ERA, 11 SV, 33.1 IP)

Honorable Mention
Daniel Bruce ? Nebraska
Brian Duensing ? Nebraska
Dustin Timm ? Nebraska
Zach Kroenke - Nebraska