June 20, 2010

College World Series Schedule and Game Stories

College World Series Capsules

Winners, finalists announced for college baseball awards

By Phil Stanton

CollegeBaseballInsider.com Co-Founder

OMAHA, Neb. – A press conference was held Saturday morning in the Hall of Fame Room at Rosenblatt Stadium to announce the winners and finalists for several major college baseball awards.

Bo Carter, the Executive Director of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), introduced Jim Schlossnagle of TCU as National Coach of the Year. Schlossnagle guided the Horned Frogs to a Super Regional title at Texas a week ago to earn their first College World Series berth. TCU won its fifth consecutive Mountain West regular-season crown. Schlossnagle now owns a record of 380-179 in nine seasons as a head coach after TCU’s 8-1 win over Florida State in the first game of the College World Series.

Previous winners include Mike Batesole of Fresno State in 2008 and Brian O’Connor of Virginia in 2009.

NCBWA President Chuck Dunlap of the SEC announced Chance Ruffin (pictured above) of Texas as the Stopper of the Year. Ruffin is second in the nation with a 1.11 ERA. The junior was 6-1 with 14 saves and struck out 97 in 64.2 innings. Ruffin is tops in the country with 13.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

The other finalists were Kevin Arico of Virginia, Neil Holland of Louisville, Chris Dennis of Portland and Jordan Swagerty of Arizona State.

Previous winners are J. Brent Cox of Texas in 2005, Don Czyz of Kansas in 2006, Luke Prihoda of Sam Houston State in 2007, Joshua Fields of Georgia in 2008 and Addison Reed of San Diego State in 2009.

David Feaster of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce talked about the Dick Howser Trophy, the award for the top player in collegiate baseball. This will be the 22nd year in which the trophy is presented.

Jana Howser, the daughter of the late Dick Howser and the Executive Vice President of Development for the College Baseball Foundation, revealed the three finalists for the 2010 Dick Howser Trophy: Yasmani Grandal of Miami (Fla.), Drew Pomeranz of Ole Miss and Anthony Rendon of Rice.

Mike Gustafson, the Executive Director of the College Baseball Foundation, announced the finalists for three awards.

For the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award, the finalists are Christian Colon of Cal State Fullerton, Jedd Gyorko of West Virginia and Ryan Soares of George Mason.

For the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, the finalists are Mike McGee of Florida State, Nick Ramirez of Cal State Fullerton and Kolbrin Vitek of Ball State.

For the Pitcher of the Year Award, the finalists are Drew Pomeranz of Ole Miss, Chris Sale of FGCU and Alex Wimmers of Ohio State.

The three College Baseball Foundation awards, as well as the Dick Howser Trophy, will be presented at the College Baseball Awards Show on July 2 in Lubbock, Texas.

(photo courtesy of Texas Media Relations Office)