Chris Shehan Named to Golden Spikes Award Watch List
5/21/2008 4:29:00 AM | Baseball
STATESBORO,
For Shehan it marks the third National ?Player of the Year' award. Earlier this month Shehan was selected as one of 16 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Award, presented by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. He was also one of 50 finalists for the Brooks Wallace Award, presented by the College Baseball Foundation.
On all three lists the junior outfielder is the only representative from the Southern Conference.
Shehan's current .434 season batting average would rank fourth in program history. The junior outfielder also paces the offense in: runs scored (79), on-base percentage (.554), slugging percentage (.816) and walks (49) while standing second in home runs (20), RBI (70) and stolen bases (22-23). Shehan is currently riding a 12-game hitting streak, the second time this year in double-figures. Last weekend he became just the second player in program history to join the 20 home runs/20 stolen bases group (Rob Fitzpatrick, 1990).
Twice this year Shehan has hit two home runs in a game - the series opener against USC Upstate then three games later in the same week versus Columbia (part of the NCAA record 14 hit). He is a national ?Player of the Week' award winner, twice been named SoCon Player of the Week and was the SoCon's ?March Player of the Month'.
Fans can follow online at GoldenSpikesAward.com as the list of 50 players is narrowed to five finalists on Tuesday, June 3, en route to the announcement of this year's winner on Wednesday, July 16.
The 2008 GSA will be awarded as part of a production by Major League Baseball and MLBAM that will be streamed live on the Internet exclusively at GoldenSpikesAward.com and MLB.com. The annual event will be held in
In 2007, USA Baseball instituted a new selection and balloting procedure for the most prestigious award in amateur baseball, and it will follow the same model again in 2008. After accepting nominations from sports information directors across the country, a committee voted to determine the 50 semifinalists. The names of the 50 semifinalists will now be forwarded to a voting body of 125 who will select the five finalists and the eventual 2008 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award winner.
“USA Baseball is proud to recognize these 50 athletes and their respective baseball programs as semifinalists for the 2008 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO. “As in 2007, we see 40 different schools represented on this year's semifinalist list ? this again speaks to the level of baseball talent among college programs across the country.”
A list of the 50 semifinalists is below.
|
Player |
College/University |
Position |
Class |
|
|
|
P |
Junior |
|
Ike Davis |
|
Utility |
Junior |
|
Brett Wallace |
|
3B |
Junior |
|
Josh Satin |
|
2B |
Senior |
|
David Cooper |
|
1B |
Junior |
|
David Sappelt |
Coastal |
OF |
Junior |
|
Pat Venditte |
Creighton |
P |
Senior |
|
Corey Kemp |
|
C |
Senior |
|
Christian Friedrich |
|
P |
Junior |
|
Mike McKenna |
|
OF |
Senior |
|
Buster Posey |
|
C |
Junior |
|
Tanner Scheppers |
|
P |
Junior |
|
Gordon Beckham |
|
SS |
Junior |
|
Joshua Fields |
|
P |
Senior |
|
|
OF |
Junior | |
|
Sawyer Carroll |
|
OF |
Senior |
|
Collin Cowgill |
|
OF |
Junior |
|
Andrew Liebel |
|
P |
Senior |
|
Chris Dominguez |
|
3B |
Sophomore |
|
Matt Clark |
LSU |
1B |
Junior |
|
Jemile Weeks |
|
2B |
Junior |
|
Yonder Alonso |
|
1B |
Junior |
|
Nate Recknagel |
|
1B |
Senior |
|
Aaron Crow |
|
P |
Junior |
|
Johnny Dorn |
|
P |
Senior |
|
Josh Romanski |
|
Utility |
Junior |
|
Brian Matusz |
|
P |
Junior |
|
Stephen Strasburg |
|
P |
Sophomore |
|
Reese Havens |
|
SS |
Junior |
|
Justin Smoak |
|
1B |
Junior |
|
George Brown |
|
P |
Senior |
|
Jason Castro |
Stanford |
C |
Junior |
|
Kentrail Davis |
|
OF |
Freshman |
|
Jordan Danks |
|
OF |
Junior |
|
Dane Carter |
|
3B |
Senior |
|
Shooter Hunt |
Tulane |
P |
Junior |
|
Jake Jefferies |
UC Davis |
C |
Junior |
|
Scott Gorgen |
UC Irvine |
P |
Junior |
|
Alden Carrithers |
UCLA |
2B |
Senior |
|
Alex White |
UNC |
P |
Sophomore |
|
Tim Fedroff |
UNC |
OF |
Sophomore |
|
Dustin Ackley |
UNC |
1B |
Sophomore |
|
Xavier Scruggs |
UNLV |
1B |
Senior |
|
Ryan Flaherty |
Vanderbilt |
SS |
Junior |
|
Pat McAnaney |
|
P |
Senior |
|
Alan Dykstra |
|
1B |
Junior |
|
Anthony Capra |
|
P |
Junior |
|
Conor Gillaspie |
|
3B |
Junior |
|
Jeremy Hamilton |
|
1B |
Junior |
|
Ryan Lavarnway |
Yale |
C |
Junior |
For the past 30 years, USA Baseball has honored the top amateur baseball player in the country with the Golden Spikes Award. Following the first ever presentation of the Award to Bob Horner of Arizona State in 1978, the Golden Spikes Award has been presented each year to the player who exhibits exceptional athletic ability and exemplary sportsmanship. The 2007 Golden Spikes Award winner was David Price of
