Adam Zornes
Baker College

May 15, 2008

WICHITA, Kan. -- Rice junior Adam Zornes has been named one of 12 national semifinalists for the 2008 Coleman Company-Johnny Bench Award delivered by AT&T and Papa John's Pizza, as the top catcher in Division I baseball, the Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission announced on Wednesday (May 14).

Zornes, a 6-1, 215-pound Houston native, is among an elite group of 12 considered to be the nation's top collegiate catchers in 2008. The Johnny Bench Award winner will be announced at the 11th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 27.

Not only has Zornes started 48 of the 50 games for the third-ranked team in the nation, he has rarely come out of a game and caught more than 91 percent of the team's total innings. Offensively the slugger is batting a steady .306 and he leads the team in home runs (9). The standout from nearby St. Thomas High School has 43 RBI and a slugging percentage of .517. Zornes also does something extremely rare in college baseball, and that is he calls the pitches for the entire game. With Zornes calling the game the Owls are 39-11 this season and won the Conference USA regular season title with the best team ERA in the league (3.65). He was drafted by the major leagues as a redshirt sophomore last year, but returned to school where he is an economics major in Rice's accelerated curriculum.

The prestigious award is named after Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, who was twice selected the Most Valuable Player in the National League and a 14-time All-Star. He won 10 Gold Gloves in his major league career and caught 100 or more games for 13 consecutive seasons.

Zornes and the C-USA Champion Rice Owls next play at 24th-ranked Tulane on Thursday, May 15, to begin a three-game series with the Green Wave. The start time is set for 6 pm. The teams will then play a split double-header on Friday, May 16, to conclude the regular season. Both games on Friday will be televised live around the country by cable's CBS College Sports. Start times are slated for 1:06 pm and 7:21 pm.

2008 Coleman Company - Johnny Bench Award delivered by AT&T and Papa John's Pizza 12 Finalists
Mitch Abeita SR Nebraska
Jason Castro JR Stanford
Dock Doyle JR Coastal Carolina
Kevin Dubler JR Illinois State
Tim Federowicz JR North Carolina
Jake Jefferies JR UC-Davis
Corey Kemp SR East Carolina
Petey Paramore JR Arizona State
Josh Phegley SO Indiana
Buster Posey JR Florida State
Shea Robin SR Vanderbilt
Adam Zornes JR Rice University