May 1, 2007

From USA Baseball

Durham, NC (usabaseball.com) - USA Baseball announced today the names of the 50 semi-finalists for the 2007 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award. This year will mark the 30th consecutive year that the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award has been presented to the nation's premier amateur baseball player. The winner's name will be announced on June 29, 2007, during the 2007 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Show presented by Major League Baseball.

Headlining this year's semi-finalists is Vanderbilt University, which has three members of its squad on the list (Pedro Alvarez, David Price, and Casey Weathers). Other schools with multiple players include North Carolina (Josh Horton and Robert Woodard), Arizona State (Eric Sogard and Brett Wallace), Virginia (Sean Doolittle and Jacob Thompson), Georgia Tech (Danny Payne and Matt Weiters), Oklahoma State (Corey Brown and Tyler Mach), Florida State (Bryan Henry and Tony Thomas Jr.), South Carolina (Harris Honeycutt and Justin Smoak) and Texas (Adrian Alaniz and Kyle Russell).

In total, 40 college and universities are represented on the 2007 semi-finalist list. Among conferences, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) landed 10 players on the list, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) 9 players, the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) 6 players, and the Big-12 Conference 5 players.

In 2007 USA Baseball instituted a new selection and balloting procedure for the most prestigious award in amateur baseball. After accepting nominations from sports information directors across the country, a committee voted to determine the 50 semi-finalists. The names of the 50 semi-finalists will now be forwarded to a voting body of 125 who will select the 5 finalists and the eventual 2007 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Winner.

"USA Baseball is extremely proud to recognize these 50 athletes and their respective baseball programs as semi-finalists for the 2007 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award," said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO. "To see 40 different schools represented on this year's semi-finalist list speaks to the level of college baseball talent across the country."

A list of the 50 semi-finalists follows.

For the past 29 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 2006 Golden Spikes Award winner was Tim Lincecum of the University of Washington. Past winners of this prestigious award include current Major League Baseball players such as Alex Gordon ('05), Rickie Weeks ('03), Khalil Greene ('02), Jason Jennings ('00), Pat Burrell (`98), J.D. Drew ('97), Mark Kotsay ('95), and Jason Varitek ('94). Former Major League stars that have captured the award include Robin Ventura ('88), Jim Abbott ('87), Will Clark ('85), Dave Magadan ('83), Terry Francona ('80), Tim Wallach ('79), and Bob Horner ('78).

USA Baseball is the National Governing Body of amateur baseball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. The organization selects and trains the USA Baseball National Team, the USA Baseball Junior National Team (18-under), the USA Baseball Youth National Team (16-under), the USA Baseball 14U National Team (14-under), and the USA Baseball Women's National Team which participate in various international competitions each year. For more information on USA Baseball please log onto www.usabaseball.com.