FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
Lubbock, Texas – The field of candidates aiming for the 2008 Brooks Wallace College Player of the Year Award was reduced to 100 today, as announced by the College Baseball Foundation in Lubbock, TX. Brett Wallace (Arizona State) and Ryan Lavarnway (Yale) were 2007 semifinalists who are now in pursuit of this year’s award. Notable additions to the ’08 list include Buster Posey (Florida State), Josh Romanski (San Diego) and Sawyer Carroll (Kentucky). The Wallace Award is presented annually to the nation’s top collegiate baseball player and will be nationally televised on Fox College Sports.
The 2008 award banquet will be held on Wednesday, July 2, at 7 p.m. in the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center. Information regarding the sale of individual tickets, as well as group and corporate tables, is available by calling (806) 777 – 8277 or through the College Baseball Foundation website at www.collegebaseballfoundation.org.
The selection committee will narrow the “Wallace Watch” throughout the remainder of the season and the three Wallace Award finalists will be announced following NCAA Super Regional play. Along with their head coaches and parents, the finalists will be invited to Lubbock from July 2-4 to participate in the College Baseball Foundation’s “Past Meets Present” celebration of college baseball. The 2008 College Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees will also be present for the three days of festivities.
The Wallace Award is a dedication to the memory of the former Texas Tech player and assistant coach Brooks Wallace. Wallace was a slick-fielding shortstop at Texas Tech from 1977 to 1980. A four-year starter, he was named All-Southwest Conference and All-District his senior year. He led the Red Raiders to their first-ever appearance in the Southwest Conference Tournament in 1980. After playing two years in the Texas Rangers organization, he returned to Texas Tech and served as a graduate assistant and later as an assistant coach. In the summer of 1984, he was diagnosed with cancer and fought the disease courageously until his death on March 24, 1985, at age 27. The Plano, TX, native was married to the former Sandy Arnold and they had one daughter, Lindsay Ryan.
Past winners included Kurt Suzuki of Cal State Fullerton (2004), Alex Gordon of Nebraska (2005), and Brad Lincoln of Houston (2006). Last year’s winner was the number one choice in Major League Baseball’s 2007 First-Year Player Draft, David Price of Vanderbilt.
