Texas Tech University Athletics
Red Raiders Earn All-Big 12 Honors
May 27, 2002 | Baseball
May 27, 2002
DALLAS, Texas - 2002 Big 12 Conference and Phillips 66 postseason tournament champion Texas joins fellow NCAA Regional host Nebraska in dominating the sixth annual All-Big 12 Conference baseball team and superlative awards as selected by the league's head coaches.
Texas Tech placed three players on the first-team as senior Gera Alvarez earned shortstop honors while junior Jon Slack was named to the first-team outfield and senior Steve Rowe was one of two first-team relief pitchers. Senior catcher Willie Durazo and senior designated hitter Nick Blankenship picked up second-team honors. Senior first baseman Bryon Smith and junior outfielder Scooter Jordan were named honorable mention.
Head coach Augie Garrido of the Longhorns copped Coach of the Year laurels for the first time in the Big 12 and for the seventh time in his career as either national or conference Coach of the Year. His prot?g?es Pitcher of the Year Justin Simmons, Freshman Player of the Year designated hitter J.D. Reininger and Freshman Pitcher of the Year Huston Street also earned top honors in their respective areas.
Nebraska, which lost 9-6 in 10 innings in the tourney finals to UT after winning the 1999-01 Phillips 66 Big 12 postseason meets, received kudos in the persons of 2002 Player of the Year catcher Jed Morris and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year pitcher Aaron Marsden. The All-Big 12 team was far from a Nebraska-Texas all-star contingent as five Big 12 teams (along with near-miss candidates Oklahoma State at 37-21 and Texas A&M at 35-24 overall) advanced to NCAA Regionals.
Baylor, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech each placed members on the first team while several student-athletes finished high in balloting for both the top units and chief individual laurels.
Bears' first baseman Mike Huggins, who batted .366 in Big 12 play as a junior, joins teammates DH Ross Bennett and starting pitcher Justin Taylor on the initial unit while Kansas State is represented by 3B Ty Soto and OF Pat Maloney, who ended the pre-NCAA campaign with a conference-best .398 average. OU's standout OF Jason Fransz is on the first team along with Texas Tech's SS Gera Alvarez, OF Jon Slack and relief ace Steve Rowe. Nebraska OF Jeff Leise from the Huskers' fourth consecutive NCAA tourney edition accompanies Morris and Marsden on the "dream team."
Morris posted some of the most impressive numbers nationally prior to NU's four-team NCAA Regionals at sparkling Hawks Stadium in Lincoln, Neb., with a .376 average, 20 home runs and 77 RBI (the latter two stats topping the conference through Phillips 66 Big 12 postseason tournament activity).
Simmons had similarly-impressive numbers on the mound as the All-America lefty and candidate for the Dick Howser Trophy, Rotary Smith Award and Golden Spikes Award went 14-0 before being upset by Texas A&M 8-4 in the first round of the Big 12 postseason tourney. He has led NCAA Division I-A in pitching wins since the first week of national postings in early April.
Marsden allowed just 10 earned runs over 11 starts at one juncture of the 2002 season and tossed a one-hitter freshman as well as two three-hitters in that span. Reininger joined Street on the Phillips 66 Big 12 All-Tournament team as they played leading roles in a 5-1 meet record and final victory over second-seeded Nebraska. Reininger blasted 11 home runs with 44 RBI in his first 52 games and had a Big 12-record-tying three home runs against TCU. Street appeared in four wins in the league's postseason event and set Texas freshman records with 29 appearances and nine saves through games of May 30.
After featuring 16 underclassmen and just two seniors in 2001, the '02 Coaches All-Big 12 first team is a very junior-oriented group. Seven juniors, four sophomores, three seniors, and one freshman dotted the 15-person unit. At the request of league coaches, the All-Big 12 team is released every season on the week after the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference tournament.
