LaPorta Chosen As First-Team All-American By Louisville Slugger

Sophomore Matt LaPorta (Port Charlotte, Fla.) added another accolade to his impressive list of accomplishments this season when he earned first-team recognition on the Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-American baseball squad. The 17-man first team, chosen by performances up to regional playoffs and picked by the staff of Collegiate Baseball newspaper, features nine conference players or pitchers of the year, including:

• RHP Lance Broadway, TCU (Pitcher of Year Conference USA)

• RHP Luke Hochevar, Tennessee (Pitcher of Year Southeastern Conference)

• RHP Ian Kennedy, Southern California (Pitcher of Year Pacific-10 Conference)

• RHP Mike Pelfrey, Wichita State (Pitcher of Year Missouri Valley Conference)

• 1B Matt LaPorta, Florida (Player of Year Southeastern Conference)

• 2B Corey Wimberley, Alcorn State (Player of Year Southwestern Athletic Conference)

• 3B Alex Gordon, Nebraska (Player of Year Big 12 Conference)

• OF Trevor Crowe, Arizona (Co-Player of Year Pacific-10 Conference)

• UT Mike Costanzo, Coastal Carolina (Player of Year Big South Conference)

Entering Florida's NCAA Regional opener against Stetson on Friday night, LaPorta is hitting .341 and paces the Southeastern Conference in slugging percentage (.730), runs batted in (69) and home runs (23). He connected on at least one four-bagger in nine of the Gators' 10 league series during the regular season and established a school record by being picked as the SEC Player of the Week on three occasions. LaPorta was also the first Orange and Blue baseball player to earn SEC Player of the Year.

The first team features six starting pitchers who posted a combined 74-9 record with an ERA of 2.07. Two pitchers, Lance Broadway of TCU and Ian Kennedy of Southern California, led the team with 144 strikeouts each. Relief pitcher Neil Jamison of Long Beach State led the pitching staff with a 0.00 ERA in 26 appearances this season as he posted 11 saves.

The offense features power, line drive hitters and speed. The first team belted 130 homers led by 1B Matt LaPorta of Florida with 23. The team collected 184 doubles, led by 25 each from Florida State OF Shane Robinson and Arizona OF Trevor Crowe. Eight first teamers hit 15 or more doubles this season. As far as speed, five players swiped 26 bases or more led by Florida State's Robinson with 46.

The first team also features Collegiate Baseball's National Player of The Year in Florida State's Robinson. He was the first player in FSU history to record 100 hits and steal 40 bases in the same season in addition to recording a 40-game hitting streak as he posted a .439 batting average. He is the only player in America in the top five nationally in every one of the following categories: on-base percentage, average, runs, hits and doubles in cumulative numbers. He also is ninth in the nation in total bases.

The following are the first, second and third-team Louisville Slugger All-Americans for the 2005 season.

First Team

Pitchers

Pos	Player	School	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SV	IP	H	BB	SO
RHP	Lance Broadway	TCU	14	1	1.67	18	15	4	0	108.0	77	34	144
RHP	Luke Hochevar	Tennessee	14	2	1.90	16	16	3	0	118.6	82	42	131
RHP	Dallas Buck	Oregon State	11	1	1.93	15	15	2	0	107.0	72	38	109
LHP	Brian Bogusevic	Tulane	12	1	2.57	16	16	2	0	112.0	99	33	114
RHP	Ian Kennedy	Southern Cal	11	2	2.44	16	15	1	0	103.3	73	34	144
RHP	Mike Pelfrey	Wichita State	12	2	1.91	18	18	6	0	131.6	88	28	136
Relief	Neil Jamison	Long Beach State	4	0	0.00	26	0	0	11	27.0	16	5	25

Position Players

Pos	Player	School	AVG	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Jeff Clement	Southern Cal	.353	201	47	71	17	0	13	48	43	40	4
1B	Matt LaPorta	FLORIDA	.341	226	63	77	15	2	23	69	38	56	3
2B	Corey Wimberley	Alcorn State	.462	132	55	61	10	3	1	32	27	5	42
3B	Alex Gordon	Nebraska	.386	228	72	88	21	4	18	61	56	33	23
SS	Tyler Greene	Georgia Tech	.370	243	74	90	15	3	12	69	34	65	30
OF••	Shane Robinson	Florida State	.439	269	91	118	25	4	5	40	51	27	46
OF	Trevor Crowe	Arizona	.421	247	81	104	25	14	9	54	36	30	26
OF	Brian Pettway	Ole Miss	.400	240	52	96	19	0	19	63	32	43	1
DH	Chris Carlson	New Mexico	.395	220	66	87	24	6	15	79	38	32	1
UT*	Mike Costanzo	Coastal Carolina	.388	219	69	85	13	2	15	61	68	56	8

Second Team

Pitchers

Pos	Player	School	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SV	IP	H	BB	SO
RHP	Max Scherzer	Missouri	9	3	1.52	15	15	1	0	100.3	51	38	138
RHP	Cesar Carrillo	Miami (Fla.)	12	2	2.29	17	16	2	1	110.0	90	20	111
LHP	Austin Faught	UL-Lafayette	12	0	2.45	15	15	0	0	88.0	67	37	69
LHP	Ricky Romero	Cal State Fullerton	12	4	2.80	16	16	1	0	119.0	92	31	129
RHP	Dennis Bigley	Oral Roberts	11	3	1.47	16	16	7	0	104.0	68	24	82
RHP	Kevin Slowey	Winthrop	13	2	2.26	18	16	6	1	127.3	84	13	121
LHP	Nick Hill	Army	10	1	1.22	13	12	4	0	81.0	58	14	89
Relief	J. Brent Cox	Texas	7	2	1.77	33	0	0	14	61.0	46	16	70
Relief	Erik Morrison	Ball State	7	0	1.32	28	0	0	15	41.0	31	12	41

Position Players

Pos	Player	School	AVG	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Chad Tracy	Pepperdine	.363	240	53	87	21	2	12	61	24	27	2
C	Nick Hundley	Arizona	.349	212	54	74	22	2	14	43	41	41	9
1B	Geoff Desmond	Arkansas State	.384	224	66	86	19	1	20	72	34	36	5
1B	Jason Maxey	Towson	.346	217	50	75	18	1	23	72	22	44	0
2B	Taylor Harbin	Clemson	.360	250	61	90	28	3	10	60	12	22	4
3B	Ryan Braun	Miami (Fla.)	.401	202	68	81	15	1	16	71	30	35	22
SS	Seth Johnson	Texas	.402	244	52	98	17	4	8	54	20	23	14
OF	Jacoby Ellsbury	Oregon St.	.415	207	45	86	17	2	6	42	30	14	21
OF	Adam Godwin	Troy	.367	245	65	90	6	4	5	44	19	33	84
OF	Ryan Patterson	LSU	.363	234	67	85	21	2	19	49	25	26	6
UT*	Micah Owings	Tulane	.326	181	52	59	15	3	16	54	36	45	0

Third Team

Pitchers

Pos	Player	School	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SV	IP	H	BB	SO
RHP	Matt Green	La.-Monroe	10	2	2.65	17	16	2	1	105.3	92	26	141
RHP	Anthony Varvaro	St. John's	9	3	2.32	14	14	2	0	85.3	54	35	115
LHP	Garrett Olson	Cal Poly SLO	12	4	2.71	19	19	3	0	136.0	123	47	128
LHP	Cesar Ramos	Long Beach St.	10	6	2.27	17	17	4	0	123.0	99	14	92
RHP	Mickey Storey	Florida Atlantic	9	1	1.77	22	8	1	7	86.3	72	20	75
RHP	Matt Torra	Massachusetts	6	3	1.14	14	13	8	0	94.6	56	16	111
LHP	Greg Smith	Louisiana St.	10	2	2.20	16	15	3	0	98.0	92	23	78
RHP	Joba Chamberlain	Nebraska	8	2	2.56	15	15	1	0	98.3	70	27	109
RHP	Johnny Dorn	Nebraska	10	1	1.86	17	10	1	1	87.0	59	19	72
Relief	Craig Hansen	St. John's	2	2	1.41	30	0	0	14	57.3	30	17	77
Relief	Brett Harker	College of Charleston	5	0	2.27	26	0	0	14	47.6	35	8	57
Relief	John Madden	Auburn	6	2	1.64	41	0	0	7	76.6	69	16	50

Position Players

Pos	Player	School	AVG	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB
C	Brad Willcutt	Southern Miss.	.329	243	57	80	21	0	16	82	37	32	0
C	Kyle Blumenthal	Cal Poly SLO	.410	183	42	75	15	0	4	53	39	21	4
1B	Luke Hopkins	New Mexico State	.392	212	58	83	19	0	14	79	39	38	2
1B	Aaron Bates	North Carolina State	.420	200	60	84	16	1	12	62	36	25	3
1B	D. J. Wabick	College of Charleston	.426	249	68	106	27	2	9	66	25	30	5
1B	Matt Rizzotti	Manhattan	.416	173	53	72	21	0	9	57	40	32	0
1B	Jordan Brown	Arizona	.340	247	59	84	17	3	13	77	17	29	0
2B	Jordan Pacheco	New Mexico	.408	233	65	95	17	5	15	52	15	24	6
2B	Chris Campbell	College of Charleston	.388	258	63	100	21	0	14	85	21	26	4
2B	Scott Sizemore	VCU	.372	207	57	77	24	3	12	56	36	20	19
3B	Jay Heafner	Davidson	.448	203	51	91	18	0	11	58	36	27	13
3B	Brandon Taylor	Brigham Young	.356	239	65	85	17	4	20	83	24	43	11
3B	Chase Headley	Tennessee	.379	211	74	80	20	2	12	60	59	21	6
SS	Cameron Blair	Texas Tech	.350	223	70	78	12	3	17	60	47	25	21
SS	Troy Tulowitzki	Long Beach State	.355	141	29	50	12	1	7	26	12	30	2
OF	Travis Buck	Arizona State	.388	242	67	94	22	3	4	38	25	32	23
OF	Eli Iorg	Tennessee	.392	232	60	91	17	4	15	68	19	28	27
OF	Brad Rosenblat	George Washington	.353	221	66	78	20	2	17	57	26	47	22
OF	Sergio Pedroza	Cal State Fullerton	.346	188	41	65	12	2	13	49	32	36	6
OF	Mark Aranda	New Mexico State	.351	202	59	71	10	4	22	85	22	53	4
OF	Jon Jay	Miami (Fla.)	.422	192	48	81	16	3	0	50	28	24	12
OF	Drew Davidson	Illinois	.322	202	57	65	16	3	14	53	23	36	5
OF	Drew Stubbs	Texas	.324	241	58	78	17	3	10	38	22	60	27
UT*	Stephen Head	Ole Miss	.310	248	60	77	13	1	18	64	22	37	3

* Pitching Statistics For Multiple-Position Players

Pos	Player	School	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SV	IP	H	BB	SO
RHP	Mike Costanzo	Coastal Carolina	8	1	1.75	34	0	0	13	51.3	37	23	65
RHP	Micah Owings	Tulane	9	4	3.63	16	16	0	0	106.6	95	17	117
LHP	Stephen Head	Ole Miss	7	3	2.72	21	7	0	6	76.0	75	25	69

•• National Player Of The Year

Collegiate Baseball Players of the Year

2005: OF Shane Robinson, Florida State University

2004: RHP Jered Weaver, Long Beach State

2003: 2B Rickie Weeks, Southern University

2002: SS Khalil Greene, Clemson University

2001: RHP Mark Prior, Univ. of Southern California

2000: RHP Kip Bouknight, University of South Carolina

1999: UT Jason Jennings, Baylor University

1998: OF Kevin Mench, University of Delaware

1997: J.D. Drew, Florida State University

1996: RHP Kris Benson, Clemson University

1995: 1B/P Todd Helton, Tennessee & OF/P Mark Kotsay, Cal. State Fullerton

1994: P/1B Ryan Jackson, Duke University

1993: P/OF Brooks Kieschnick, University of Texas

1992: P Lloyd Peever, LSU

1991: P Bobby Jones, Fresno State University

1990: OF Mike Kelly, Arizona State University

1989: P Ben McDonald, LSU & UT Scott Bryant, University of Texas

1988: P Andy Benes, Evansville University

1987: 3B Robin Ventura, Oklahoma State & 1B Marteese Robinson, Seton Hall University

1986: P Greg Swindell, University of Texas

1985: OF Pete Incaviglia, Oklahoma State University

1984: OF Oddibe McDowell, Arizona State University

-UF-

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LaPorta Chosen As First-Team All-American By Louisville Slugger

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