Three Huskers Earn All-America Honors

Tucson, Ariz. --- A trio of Huskers were honored Thursday as they were named Louisville Slugger All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball newspaper. Nebraska third baseman Alex Gordon led the way as the two-time Big 12 Player of the Year was named to the first team, while pitchers Joba Chamberlain and Johnny Dorn were third-team selections.

The Louisville Slugger All-America squad consists of 17 players on the first team with Gordon joining eight other players who were conference player or pitchers of the year. The second team had 20 selections while the third team was made up of 36 members.

Nebraska's three selections were more than one-third of the total from the Big 12 Conference with Gordon representing the league's lone first-team pick. Three Big 12 players were on the second team while four others, including both Chamberlain and Dorn, were on the third team.

North Carolina State, the No. 2 seed in the Lincoln Regional this weekend, was the only other team from the Huskers' regional to have a selection as first baseman Aaron Bates was a third-team pick.

A junior from Lincoln, Gordon enters the regional hitting .386 and ranks among the league leaders in nearly every statistical category. He has added 21 doubles, 18 home runs and 61 RBIs this season and projects to be one of the first collegiate players taken in the 2005 Major League Draft.

Chamberlain, a sophomore transfer, burst onto the Division I scene this year by collecting an 8-2 record in 98.3 innings while posting a 2.56 ERA. While helping the team to one of the best staff ERAs in the nation, Chamberlain earned first-team All-Big 12 honors as he led the team with 109 strikeouts.

Dorn earned All-America honors after posting a team-best 10-1 record to set the Nebraska freshman record for wins. One of the league's top pitchers and a first-team All-Big 12 pick, Dorn owns a miniscule 1.86 ERA over 87.0 innings and has struck out 72 while walking just 19. He is the first Husker freshman to earn All-America honors since Matt Hopper in 2000.

The Louisiville Slugger All-America first team features six starting pitchers who posted a combined 74-9 record with an ERA of 2.07. Two pitchers, Lance Broadway of Texas Christian and Ian Kennedy of Southern California, led the team with 144 strikeouts each. Relief pitcher Neil Jamison of Long Beach State led the pitching staff with a 0.00 ERA in 26 appearances this season as he posted 11 saves.

The offense features power, line-drive hitters and speed. First-team members combined to belt 130 homers led by 1B Matt LaPorta of Florida with 23. The team collected 184 doubles led by 25 each from Florida State OF Shane Robinson and Arizona OF Trevor Crowe. Eight first teamers hit 15 or more doubles this season. As far as speed, five players swiped 26 bases or more led by Florida State's Robinson with 46.

The first team also features Collegiate Baseball's National Player of The Year in Florida State's Robinson. He was the first player in FSU history to record 100 hits and steal 40 bases in the same season in addition to recording a 40-game hitting streak as he posted a .439 batting average. He is the only player in the country in the top five nationally in the following categories: on-base percentage, average, runs, hits and doubles in cumulative numbers.