2009 Big 12 Awards Announced

2009 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 Baseball Postseason Awards Announced

(Courtesy Big 12)

IRVING, Texas—J.T. Wise (Oklahoma) and A.J. Morris (Kansas State) highlight the 2009 Phillips 66 All-Big 12 Baseball Awards as Big 12 Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, it was announced on Tuesday. Kansas’ David Narodowski has been named the top newcomer, while Garrett Buechele (Oklahoma) is the Freshman of the Year. Brad Hill of Kansas State has earned Coach of the Year accolades.

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

Wise becomes the first Sooner to receive Player of the Year honors in Big 12 history. The Apopka, Fla. senior catcher finished the regular season as the league’s leader in batting average with a .375 clip. He ranks second in slugging percentage (.707) and home runs (17) while ranking fifth and sixth, respectively, in total bases (130) and RBI (56). Wise hit well over .300 in Big 12 play (.363) with 10 home runs and 32 RBI. He is also a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award, given to the nation’s top catcher, and has thrown out a Big-12 best 28 potential base stealers this year (54 percent) while committing just two errors, good for a .995 fielding percentage.

Morris paces the conference in earned run average (1.61), wins (12) and innings pitched (100.2) while ranking second in games started (14) and complete contests (4). Nationally, Morris is second in wins and third in ERA in NCAA rankings released last week. His 12 victories are the 10th best single-season total in Big 12 history. Morris broke KSU’s single-season wins record (10) at Texas on April 24. The right-hander, who allowed just one earned run when he recorded the victory had a career-high 141-pitch outing. The Humble, Texas junior ranks second all-time in Wildcat annals with 20 wins.

Narodowski, a junior transfer from Vernon (Texas) College, hit .357 in his first year in the Big 12 Conference, the highest average by a newcomer this season. He also tallied 56 runs and a .431 on base percentage as the Jayhawks’ leadoff hitter. In conference action, the Vancouver, British Columbia shortstop compiled a .353 batting average. Narodowski ranks amongst league leaders in doubles (19, third) hits (76, fifth) and runs scored (56, sixth).

Buechele is the first Freshman of the Year honoree for OU. After redshirting his first season in Norman in 2008, Buechele has emerged as one of the top third basemen in the Big 12 this season. He has started all 56 games at the position for OU while holding the league’s eighth-best batting average at .356. The Arlington, Texas native has homered four times and driven in 37 runs with 14 doubles. Buechele has just six errors in the field. He leads all hitters in conference games in batting average (.396), hits (40) and on-base percentage (.479). Buechele has hit safely in all but 13 games this season, inlcuding the Big 12’s fourth-longest hitting streak of 15 games.

Hill has led Kansas State to its most successful season to date with a school-record 39 overall victories and the most conference wins ever (14). The Wildcats also posted their highest league finish in 2009 in fourth place. Prior to this season, K-State had finished no higher than sixth in the final conference race, including a seventh-place showing a year ago. In his sixth season at the helm of the Wildcat program, Hill guided his squad to the institution’s highest national ranking of No. 10 during the week of May 4. Hill becomes the first KSU coach to be honored in Big 12 history.

The All-Big 12 First, Second and Honorable Mention teams were also announced.

2009 ALL-BIG 12 BASEBALL AWARDS

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: J.T. Wise, Oklahoma, C, Sr.
PITCHER OF THE YEAR: A.J. Morris Kansas State, RHP, Jr.
FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Garrett Buechele, Oklahoma, 3B
NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR: David Narodowski, Kansas, SS, Jr.
COACH OF THE YEAR: Brad Hill, Kansas State

ALL-BIG 12 FIRST TEAM

Name, School Pos. Cl. Hometown/Previous School

Shaver Hansen, Baylor INF Jr. Grand Junction, Colo./Fruita Monument

Tony Thompson, Kansas INF So. Reno, Nev./Galena

Bryant Hernandez, Oklahoma INF Jr. Oxnard, Calif./St. Bonaventure

Brodie Greene, Texas A&M INF Jr. Bullard, Texas/Bullard

Chris Richburg, Texas Tech INF Sr. Lubbock, Texas/Frenship

J.T. Wise, Oklahoma C Sr. Apopka, Fla./LSU

Greg Folgia, Missouri OF Jr. North Wales, Pa./Christopher Dock

Jamie Johnson, Oklahoma OF Jr. Calhoun, La./Texarkana College

Micheal Dabbs, Oklahoma State OF Sr. Chandler, Okla./Cowley County CC

Dustin Dickerson, Baylor DH Jr. McGregor, Texas/Midway

Brooks Raley, Texas A&M UTL SO. Uvalde, Texas/Uvalde

A.J. Morris Kansas State SP Jr. Humble, Texas/Humble

Kyle Gibson, Missouri SP Jr. Greenfield, Ind./Greenfield Central

Chance Ruffin, Texas SP So. Austin, Texas/Lake Travis

Austin Wood, Texas RP Sr. Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood

ALL-BIG 12 SECOND TEAM

Name, School Pos. Cl. Hometown/Previous School

Carter Jurica, Kansas State INF So. Katy, Texas/Katy

Aaron Baker, Oklahoma INF Jr. Denton, Texas/Denton

Garrett Buechele, Oklahoma INF Fr. Arlington, Texas/Lamar

Willie Rueda, Texas Tech INF Sr. El Paso, Texas/Bel Air

Buck Afenir, Kansas C Sr. Escondido, Calif./Escondido

Brian Heere, Kansas OF So. Lawrence, Kan./Lawrence

Neil Medchill, Oklahoma State OF Jr. Oxford, Mich./Chandler-Gilbert CC

Connor Rowe, Texas OF So. Georgetown, Texas/Georgetown

Joe Patterson, Texas A&M DH JR. Tulsa, Okla./Seminole College

Aaron Miller, Baylor UTL Jr. Channelview, Texas/Channelview

T.J. Walz, Kansas SP So. Omaha, Neb./Skutt

Andrew Doyle, Oklahoma SP Jr. Rock Island, Ill./Alleman

Tyler Blandford, Oklahoma State SP Jr. Owensboro, Ky./Daviess County

Ryan Duke, Oklahoma RP So. Corpus Christi, Texas/Calallen

HONORABLE MENTION -- Baylor: Kendal Volz -SP; Kansas: Shaeffer Hall-SP, Robby Price-INF, Paul Smyth- RP; Kansas State: Drew Biery-INF, Justin Bloxom-INF, Jordan Cruz-OF, Jason King-INF, Nick Martini-OF; Missouri: Trevor Coleman-C, Kyle Mach-INF, Aaron Senne-OF; Nebraska: Tyler Farst-INF; Oklahoma State: Kevin David-C, Tyrone Hambly-INF, Tyler Lyons-SP; Texas: Brandon Belt-INF, Kevin Keyes-OF, Brandon Loy-INF, Cameron Rupp-C, Michael Torres-INF; Texas A&M: Luke Anders-INF, Kyle Colligan-OF, Kevin Gonzalez-C, Ross Hales-SP, Alex Wilson-RP; Texas Tech: Taylor Ashby-OF, Chad Bettis-RP; Joey Kentworthy-INF, Scott LeJeune-DH.