Tide postseason baseball honors pour in
By Ken Rogers
Published: June 2, 2009
Alabama players continue to gain honors even after the Crimson Tide has been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.
Tuesday, Tide senior right fielder Kent Matthes was named as one of five finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the nation’s top amateur baseball player.
Catcher Vin DiFazio was named to the Clemson (S.C.) All-Regional Team on Monday night. DiFazio was the Tide’s leading hitter at the regional with a .571 (4-for-7) average with two extra base hits and two RBI in the two games. He was 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles and one RBI against Oklahoma State and went 2-for-4 with one RBI against Tennessee Tech. DiFazio batted .329 for the season with seven home runs and 24 RBI in 44 games.
Matthes was joined by pitchers Mike Leake (Arizona State), A.J. Morris (Kansas State) and Stephen Strasburg (San Diego State) and North Carolina first baseman Dustin Ackley.
“It is a tremendous honor for me to represent The University of Alabama as a finalist for such a prestigious award,” Matthes said in a statement released by the school. “All of the finalists are worthy candidates and great players and to be able to join them is truly an honor. I’d like to thank Coach (Jim) Wells, Coach (Mitch) Gaspard and Coach (Dax) Norris for their support this year and for all they have done for me at Alabama. I’d also like to thank my Crimson Tide teammates for making my senior season a memorable one.”
Matthes hit .358 with 28 home runs and 81 RBIs in 58 games. He broke Doug Duke’s Alabama single-season home run record (27) that was set in 1986. Matthes finished with a slugging percentage of .858. He was the SEC Player of the Year and is a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy, also given to the national player of the year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
The Golden Spikes Award will be presented on July 14 at All-Star FanFest in St. Louis.
Dave Magadan, now the hitting coach for the Boston Red Sox, is the only Alabama player to win the Golden Spikes Award. He won it in 1983. Roberto Vaz was a finalist in 1997.
Matthes was a first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball. Teammates Austin Hyatt and Jake Smith were on the third team.
