May 12, 2008 11:53 am
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Special to The North Jefferson News
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The College Baseball Foundation has announced that UAB senior first baseman Ryan Keedy has been selected to the 2008 Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award Watch List. Keedy leads Conference USA in batting average (.410), on base percentage (.505) and doubles (21).
Keedy, the son of Gardendale High baseball coach Pat Keedy, is a 2003 graduate of Mortimer Jordan High School.
Keedy has six home runs and a team-leading 48 RBI this season to go along with 34 walks. He has also played superb defense, making just one error with 416 putouts and 18 assists for a fielding percentage of .998.
Keedy is one of six Conference USA players to be named to the “Watch List”.
The 2008 award banquet will be held on Wednesday, July 2 at 7 p.m. in the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center.
The selection committee will narrow the “Watch List” 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 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.
In addition to the “Watch List” honor, Keedy is closing in on several school records, including most doubles. Keedy currently has 22, just two shy of the Blazer record of 24.
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