BATON ROUGE — LSU pitcher Clay Dirks has been named to the 2006 Wallace Award Watch List released by the College Baseball Foundation in Lubbock, Texas. The Brooks Wallace Award is presented annually to the national college baseball player of the year.
Dirks, a junior left-hander from Hernando, Miss., was a 2005 second-team all-SEC selection as he posted a 10-4 record and a 3.24 ERA with 67 strikeouts and 27 walks in 94.1 innings. He was named SEC Pitcher of the Week on April 25 after firing a three-hit shutout at Arkansas. Dirks fired 124 pitches against the Razorbacks, allowing just three singles with no walks and a career-best eight strikeouts.
Dirks was 8-2 with a 3.43 ERA in 2004, earning Freshman all-America and Freshman all-SEC recognition. He was named National Pitcher of the Week after hurling a four-hit shutout on March 2 against Tulane.
The Wallace Watch will be trimmed to 12 semifinalists by late May. The selection committee will then narrow the list to three finalists following the NCAA Super Regionals at a press conference in Omaha, Neb. The finalists, their head coaches, and their parents will be invited to Lubbock for a schedule of special events tied to the award banquet, which will be nationally televised by Fox Sports.
The selection committee for the Wallace Award is comprised of a national panel of preeminent coaches, sports information directors, former winners and beat media who most closely follow the sport. Screening Committee members will evaluate the candidates and will continue their review throughout the entire baseball season. The list will expand and contract during the regular season and additional Wallace Watch candidates may be added as the season progresses.
Dedicated to the memory of former Texas Tech shortstop and assistant coach, 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 Six his senior year when he led the Red Raiders to their first-ever appearance in the Southwest Conference Tournament.
After playing two years in the Texas Rangers organization, Wallace 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, Texas, native was married to the former Sandy Arnold and they had one daughter, Lindsay Ryan.
2006 Preseason Watch List
Player
Pos.
School
Ian Kennedy
P
USC
Shane Robinson
OF
Florida State
Shelby Ford
SS
Oklahoma State
Matt McHargue
1B
USF
Max Scherzer
P
Missouri
Marc Maddox
1B
Southern Miss
Joe Savery
P-ATH
Rice
Dallas Buck
P
Oregon State
Ty Dunham
P
Central Michigan
Adrian Alaniz
P
Texas
Matt LaPorta
1B
Florida
J. P. Arencibia
C
Tennessee
Wade LeBlanc
P
Alabama
Michael Ambort
C
Lamar
Tim Lincecum
P
Washington
Matt Rizzotti
1B
Manhattan
Jason Meyer
P
Texas A&M
Chris Minaker
SS
Stanford
Jim Negrych
2B
Pittsburgh
Hector Ambriz
P-ATH
UCLA
Adam Carr
1B
Oklahoma State
Wes Roemer
P
Cal State Fullerton
Brooks Brown
P
Georgia
Colin Curtis
OF
Arizona State
Drew Stubbs
OF
Texas
Andrew Miller
P
North Carolina
Evan Longoria
3B
Long Beach State
Scott Sizemore
2B
VCU
Beau Mills
3B
Fresno State
Mike Folli
SS
Buffalo
Matt Melancon
P
Arizona
Joseph Callendar
2B
Texas Tech
Joe Spiers
SS
Hawai’i
Joba Chamberlain
P
Nebraska
Matt Farrington
P
Houston
Nick Schmidt
P
Arkansas
Chris Campbell
2B
College of Charleston
Clay Dirks
P
LSU
Brad Emaus
3B
Tulane
Greg Dowling
1B
Georgia Southern
Jay Heafner
3B
Davidson
Jeff Kunkel
C
Michigan
Chris Perez
P
Miami
Kevin Gunderson
P
Oregon State
Tyler Chambliss
P
Florida State
Steven Wright
P
Hawai’i
Pat McMahon
C
Northwestern
Jim Viscomi
OF
Evansville
Brennan Boesch
OF
California
Chris Valaika
SS
USC – Santa Barbara
Jake Ball
SS
Jacksonville State
Michael McKenry
C
Middle Tennesee State
Matt Wieters
C-ATH
Georgia Tech
Chad Huffman
OF
TCU
Jeremy Jones
OF
North Carolina A&T
Matt Lewis
OF
Penn State
Heath Rollins
P-ATH
Winthrop
Sean Doolittle
P-ATH
Virginia
Matt Antonelli
3B
Wake Forest
Cory Riordan
P
Fordham
Derrick Lutz
P
George Washington
Bernard Robert
P
Alabama
John Jay
OF
Miami
Jordan Pacheco
2B
New Mexico
Paul Coleman
P
Pepperdine
Luke Hopkins
1B
New Mexico State
Luke Trubee
P
Dayton
Chris Johnson
2B
Stetson
Chris Coghlan
3B
Ole Miss
Jared McGuire
3B
Boston College
Wes Hodges
3B
Georgia Tech
Steven Guerra
P
Oklahoma
Anton Daley
DH-ATH
Prairie View
Troy Krider
DH-ATH
Michigan State
Rowdy Hardy
P
Austin Peay
Taylor Fowler
P
Arkansas State
Kodiak Quick
P
Kansas
Brian Blomquist
P
Illinois
Tim Bascom
P
Central Florida
P. J. Walters
P
South Alabama
Scott Cousins
P-ATH
San Francisco
Johnny Dorn
P
Nebraska
Keith Weiser
P
Miami (OH)
Corey VanAllen
P
Baylor
Elih Villanueva
P
Florida International
Mitch Hilligoss
SS
Purdue
Brandon Hynick
P
Birmingham-Southern
James Bennett
OF
UL Monroe
Charlie Yarbrough
OF
Longwood
Blake Davis
SS
Cal State Fullerton
Kyle Jones
DH-ATH
Texas State
David Price
P
Vanderbilt
Brett Pill
1B
Cal State Fullerton
Jay Miller
OF
Washington State
Taylor Harbin
2B
Clemson
Shane Buschini
OF
San Diego
Kraig Binick
OF
New York Tech
Joseph Hunter
OF
Mississippi State
Gib Hobson
P
NC State
Brett Sinkbeil
P
Missouri State
Jon Willard
OF
South Carolina
Michael Taylor
OF
Stanford
Derek Schermerhorn
3B
Wichita State
Josh Landry
OF
Louisiana
Daniel Delcalso
2B
UC Davis
John Gaub
P
Minnesota
John Shelby
DH-ATH
Kentucky
Brennan Garr
P-ATH
N. Colorado
Jared Hughes
P
Long Beach State
Chad Tracy
C
Pepperdine
Quinton Berry
OF
San Diego State
Ryan Bird
OF
UNLV
Hunter Mense
OF
Missouri
Brandon Dewing
P
San Jose State
Chris Pettit
OF
Loyola Marymount
Scott Reese
P
Creighton
Matt Poulk
3B
UNC-Wilmington
Cory Luebke
P
Ohio State
Nick Hill
P
Army
Ben Saylor
1B
BYU
Justin Baum
3B – C
Pacific
Aaron Bates
1B – C
North Carolina State
Mickey Storey
P
Florida Atlantic
Scott Simon
1B
Northern Illinois