Baseball earns three academic All-Big 12 honors

DALLAS -- University of Texas senior shortstop Seth Johnston (Boerne, Texas) was tabbed one of 13 semifinalists for the 2005 Brooks Wallace Award while the Longhorns trio of Drew Stubbs (Atlanta, Texas), Dooley Prince (Sulphur, La.) and Carson Kainer (Tomball, Texas) were chosen as Academic All-Big 12 performers on Tuesday, May 24. Notably, these accolades mark the first of their kind for each of these student-athletes as Johnston becomes UT's first semifinalist for the Wallace Award and both Stubbs and Prince, who each earned first-team honors, become the first Longhorns to receive first-team Academic All-Big 12 recognition since former pitcher Kevin Frizzell in 2003.

The Wallace Award is presented annually to the nation's top collegiate baseball player by the College Baseball Foundation (CBF) in Lubbock, Texas. The CBF National Selection Committee will now narrow this list of 13 to three finalists following the NCAA Super Regionals, with an announcement of those players selected coming in Omaha on Thursday, June 16. The finalists, with their head coaches and parents, will then be invited to Lubbock for a golf tournament and a schedule of related activities in addition to the award banquet, which will be held on Thursday, June 30 at 7 p.m. Central and be hosted at the United Spirit Arena on the campus of Texas Tech University. For further information on the Wallace Award, log onto . Johnston, who finished the 2005 conference campaign as the Big 12's leading hitter in league play with a .433 average, currently leads the Longhorns with a .389 overall batting mark, which is good for second among conference players, while also pacing the squad in hits (88), triples (4), RBI (47), total bases (135), slugging (.597) and multi-hit (29) as well as multi-RBI (14) efforts.

With regard to Texas' Academic All-Big 12 honorees, both Stubbs and Prince were named to the first team while Kainer was elected to the second team. Nominated by each institution's director of student-athlete support services and media relations offices, the baseball academic all-league squad consisted of 29 first-team members and 18 second-team honorees. First-team members include those who have maintained a 3.20 or better GPA, while second-team selections are those who have a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA. To qualify, student-athletes must record a 3.00 or higher GPA either cumulative or during the two previous semesters. All position players nominated must have also participated in 60 percent of his team's scheduled contests, while pitchers are required to have at least one inning pitched per game played by the team or have appeared in 35 percent of their team's total contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes, who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all of the criteria except percent of participation, are also eligible.

While Prince has been sidelined for most of the second half of his senior year in 2005 due to a knee injury, Kainer holds the second-best overall batting average on the team (.338) and Stubbs, who was earlier chosen as an Academic All-District VI selection, headlines the Longhorns in runs scored (52), doubles (17), home runs (10) and steals (24).

No. 3 Texas (43-12) will now face Oklahoma State (33-23) in the opening round of the 2005 Phillips 66 Big 12 Tournament at the SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Okla., on Wednesday, May 25 at 10 a.m. Central.

2005 Wallace Award Semifinalists
Lance Broadway, TCU, P, Jr., Grand Prairie, TX
Ryan Patterson, LSU, OF, Sr., Rowlett, TX
Cesar Carillo, Miami, P, Jr., Chicago, IL
Trevor Crowe, Arizona, OF, Jr., Portland, OR
Ricky Romero, Cal State Fullerton, P, Jr., East Los Angeles, CA
Jacoby Ellsbury, Jr., Oregon State, OF, Jr., Madras, OR
Alex Gordon, Nebraska, 3B, Jr., Lincoln, NE
Luke Hochevar, Tennessee, P, Jr., Fowler, CO
Brian Bogusevic, Tulane, P/DH, Jr., Oak Lawn, IL
Brian Pettway, Ole Miss, OF, Jr., Vicksburg, MS
SETH JOHNSTON, TEXAS, SS, Jr., Boerne, TX
Ian Kennedy, USC, P, Soph., Huntington Beach, CA
Shane Robinson, Florida State, OF, Soph., Tampa, FL

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics