The Texas Collegiate League proves that the talent in the league continues to be some of the best in the nation. So far, 29 Players with ties to the TCL have racked up awards for their outstanding play during their 2007 spring season.
ALANIZ AND TACKER AWARDED PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Texas' Adrian Alaniz (Coppell Copperheads ’06-’07) and Rice's Ryne Tacker (Coppell Copperheads '04-'06) have been named the 2007 Pitcher of the Year by their respective conferences the Big 12 and Conference USA league offices announced.
On the season, Alaniz is 12-2 with a 2.37 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 91 innings. His 12 wins lead the Big 12 Conference and rank third in the nation. Opponents own an anemic .199 batting average against the right-hander. Alaniz holds a 2.75 ERA in Big 12 games and is a two-time honoree of Big 12 Pitcher of the Week this season. He has thrown 49 strikeouts during conference play and has pitched three complete games this season. The junior was selected as one of 10 semifinalists for the Roger Clemens Award, honoring the top pitcher in college baseball by the Greater Houston Baseball Association.
The Sinton,
Texas native boasts a 27-9 career record with a 3.07 ERA and 245 strikeouts in 296 innings of work. Alaniz needs four more victories to crack the UT top 10 list for career wins.
In 2006, Alaniz pitched for the Copperheads posting a 4-1 record, a 2.55 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 39.3 innings. He also has the intention of returning to the Copperheads for the 2007 summer.
After missing the entire 2006 season with an injury, Tacker bounced back to share the team and Conference
lead in wins with a 9-1 record. He tied C-USA Player of the Year Joe Savery for third place in the conference with a 2.41 ERA and allowed opponents to hit just .220 against him, second-lowest in the league. In 71 innings pitched, Tacker struck out 66 and walked just 20. He played a role in four Owls shutouts this season and notched three saves.
One of the TCL’s three-year players with the Coppell Copperheads, Tacker piled up a 4-5 record with 93 strikeouts in 82 innings pitched in his TCL career.
TEN PLAYERS ON ALL-BIG 12 TEAM WITH TCL TIES
The Texas Collegiate League was represented well as 10 players with ties to the TCL were named to the All-Big 12 first and second team, nine of them being from the state of
Texas . Texas Longhorns pitcher Adrian Alaniz was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year.
The All-Big 12 first team consisted of Texas’ Preston Clark (Coppell Copperheads ’06-’07) and RHP Alaniz (Coppell Copperheads ’06-’07), Texas A&M’s INF Blake Stouffer (Mineral Wells ’05), DH Luke Anders (Colleyville LoneStars ’07) and RHP Kyle Nicholson (Weatherford Wranglers ’05) and Kansas State RHP Daniel Edwards (Denton Outlaws ’05).
The All-Big 12 second team included
Texas ’ RHP James Russell (Coppell Copperheads ’05-’06) and 2006 TCL Picher of the Year Randy Boone (Coppell Copperheads ’06), Texas A&M 2B Parker Dalton (Mineral Wells Steam ’05-’06) and Texas Tech OF Roger Kieschnick (Coppell Copperheads ’07).
The All-Big 12 honors are selected by the league’s head coaches. No. 5 Texas placed a conference-leading seven players on the all-conference squads, while No. 18 Oklahoma State placed six -- UT has five on the first team and two on the second team while
Oklahoma
State has three on the first and three on the second. Click here for the full list of the All-Big 12 team.
TCL CLAIMS NINE PLAYERS ON ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST SQUADS
More Texas Collegiate League players were awarded this season as the Mountain West Conference announced their all-conference teams with nine players with ties to the TCL.
Five players from the TCL landed on the All-Mountain West first team including four-time All-MWC 1B Jay Brossman (Mineral Wells Steam ’04-’05)from Utah, Texas Christian SS Bryan Kervin (Coppell Copperheads ’06) from TCU, OF Clint Arnold (Weatherford Wranglers ’05-’06) and RHP Jake Arrieta (McKinney Marshals ’05) and UNLV OF Ryan Kowalski (Graham Roughnecks ’06).
TCL was also represented well on the second team with San Diego State OF Brandon Glover (McKinney Marshals ’05), New Mexico 1B Daniel Stovall (Graham Roughnecks ’04) and Texas Christian 1B Matt Vern (Euless LoneStars ’06) and 3B Steve Trout (Mineral Wells Steam ’06).
Regular-season champion TCU headlined this year's all-conference squad with 11 selections, while
San Diego
State has six honorees, and BYU and
New Mexico have three student-athletes on the all-conference team.
Utah has two honorees and Air Force and UNLV each have one selection. This year's team was made up of 12 juniors, 10 seniors, four sophomores and one freshman. Go to www.themwc.com for the full list.
TODD NAMED TO ALL-SEC FIRST TEAM
Arkansas junior Jess Todd (Coppell Copperheads ’06) earned first-team All-SEC honors by the 12 league coaches the conference office announced on Tuesday.
The TCL strikeout king, a right-handed transfer from
Navarro
Junior College , joined fellow Razorback Nick Schmidt on the first team after an 8-2 season with a 2.73 ERA and 107 strikeouts. Todd moved into the Hogs’ weekend rotation over the final six weeks of the season and dominated with a 4-0 record and a 1.35 ERA in 46.2 innings. He had a 7-1 record in SEC play and a 2.48 ERA that ranked second in the league.
Todd is the TCL's all-time strikeout leader with 85 K's in 61 innings pitched. He also accumulated a 5-2 record with a minuscule 2.21 ERA with the Coppell Copperheads in 2006.
FOUR TCL PLAYERS NAMED C-USA ALL-CONFERENCE
Rice dominated the 2007 Conference-USA awards as 9 players were named to the conference teams. Four players with ties to the Texas Collegiate League were awarded to the conference squads including C-USA Pitcher of the Year Ryne Tacker (Coppell Copperheads ’04-’06) who played in the TCL for three seasons.
Other TCL players awarded were First-Team INF Brian Friday (Duncanville Deputies ’06) from Rice, Second-Team UTL Aaron Luna (2006 TCL Freshman of the Year-Euless LoneStars) from Rice and All-Freshman Team OF Zak Presley (McKinney Marshals ’07) from Houston.
Voting was done by a panel consisting of each head coach, each team's sports information director and a media representative from each city. Click here to see a full list of the C-USA awards.
Other notable awards by TCL players
Josh Vander Hey (Mineral Wells ’07) Texas Wesleyan -
Red River Conference First Team
Damon Sublett (Coppell Copperheads ’05) Wichita State– 2nd team All-Valley Team
Blake Booher (Colleyville LoneStars ’07) UT-Tyler - All-American Southwest Conference
Trent Lockwood (Wichita Falls Roughnecks ’06-’07) UTSA – Newcomer of the Year
Thomas Field (Denton Outlaws ’07)
Texas
State – 2nd Team All-Southland Conference
