Texas
July 30, 2010
Texas
Eight Longhorns earn All-Big 12 Baseball honors

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May 19, 2009

2009 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Postseason Awards Get Acrobat Reader

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The No. 5 Texas Longhorns, the league regular-season champions, had eight names spangle the 2009 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 teams, the conference announced on Tuesday.

The official All-Big 12 awards were selected by the league's head coaches, who are not allowed to vote for their own players.

Pitchers Austin Wood and Chance Ruffin were members of the All-Big 12 First Team. Outfielder Connor Rowe was named to the second team. Catcher Cameron Rupp, first baseman Brandon Belt, shortstop Brandon Loy, third baseman Michael Torres and outfielder Kevin Keyes were named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention.

J.T. Wise (Oklahoma) and A.J. Morris (Kansas State) highlighted the 2009 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 Awards as the Big 12 Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively. Kansas' David Narodowski has been named the top newcomer, while Garrett Buechele (Oklahoma) was tabbed the Freshman of the Year. Brad Hill of Kansas State earned Coach of the Year Accolades.

Wood emerged as one of the league's top closers and earned first-team honors as a relief pitcher. The lefty owns a 5-1 record with 13 saves and a 2.18 ERA on the year. Wood allowed just 47 hits and eight walks while striking out 48 over 57.2 innings. Wood is 1-1 with nine saves and a 2.06 ERA in Big 12 games. This season, the southpaw became UT's career leader in appearances with 107 games pitched and he is just the second player in school history to log 20 or more wins and 20 or more saves in a career. Wood was a second-team All-Big 12 relief pitcher as a freshman in 2006.

Ruffin earned first-team honors one year after breaking on the scene as a second-teamer as a freshman. Ruffin owns an 8-2 record with one save and a 2.96 ERA. He has allowed 80 hits and 19 walks while striking out 85 over 91.1 innings. For his career, Ruffin is 16-5 and has 167 strikeouts in 169.1 innings.

Rowe garnered second-team honors as an outfielder. Rowe boasts a .284 batting average with four doubles, one triple, six home runs and a team-high 31 RBI in 47 games. He is also one of the smoothest fielding centerfielders in the nation. In league play, Rowe hit .310 with five home runs and 20 RBI.

Belt, Rupp and Torres earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention for the second straight season.

Belt owns a .326 batting average with 34 runs, 14 doubles, two triples, six home runs, 31 RBI and 12 stolen bases on the season. He hit .337 in league play with six doubles, two triples, two home runs, 12 RBI and seven stolen bases.

Torres boasts a .312 batting average with 20 runs, eight doubles, two triples, two home runs, 26 RBI and 11 stolen bases on the year. He batted .349 in Big 12 action with four doubles, one triple, one home run, 18 RBI and nine stolen bases.

Rupp is batting .274 with 35 runs, nine doubles, six home runs and 30 RBI as a sophomore. He hit .283 with six doubles, five home runs and 20 RBI in league games.

Keyes owns a .293 batting average with 33 runs, nine doubles, one triple, four home runs, 28 RBI and nine stolen bases on the season. He batted .267 with four doubles, one triple, two home runs and 15 RBI in Big 12 play.

Loy is hitting .292 with 27 runs, six doubles, 17 RBI and six stolen bases. The slick fielding freshman is the only Longhorn to play in all 51 games this season and has made just three errors as a third baseman and shortstop, owning a .984 fielding percentage. The Loy hit .309 with four doubles and eight RBI in league action.

The Longhorns begin play at the 2009 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship on Wednesday. Texas opens the tournament with a 12:30 p.m. contest against the Baylor Bears at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.


 

 

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