May 22, 2008
HOOVER, Ala. –Junior shortstop Ryan Flaherty was recently named one of 50 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award by USA Baseball.
Flaherty batted .318 with a team best 13 homers and 56 RBI to go with 10 doubles and nine stolen bases in 10 attempts to end the regular season. He hit .328 with nine homers and 30 RBI in conference, earning All-SEC honors for the second straight year.
Last season the Commodores had three semifinalists en route to David Price receiving the honor in June.
This year will mark the 31st consecutive year that the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award has been presented to the nation’s premier amateur baseball player.
The 2008 GSA will be awarded as part of a production by Major League Baseball and MLBAM that will be streamed live on the Internet exclusively at GoldenSpikesAward.com and MLB.com. The annual event will be held in New York City following MLB All-Star Week with a time and location to be announced in early June.
Today also marks the launch of GoldenSpikesAward.com, powered by MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball. The new Web site features content devoted exclusively to the GSA, including news, voting history, past-winner photo galleries, and photographs and video highlights for 2008 semifinalists. Fans can follow online at GoldenSpikesAward.com as the list of 50 players is narrowed to five finalists on Tuesday, June 3, en route to the announcement of this year’s winner on Wednesday, July 16.
In 2007, USA Baseball instituted a new selection and balloting procedure for the most prestigious award in amateur baseball, and it will follow the same model again in 2008. After accepting nominations from sports information directors across the country, a committee voted to determine the 50 semifinalists. The names of the 50 semifinalists will now be forwarded to a voting body of 125 who will select the five finalists and the eventual 2008 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award winner.
“USA Baseball is proud to recognize these 50 athletes and their respective baseball programs as semifinalists for the 2008 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award,” said Paul Seiler, USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO. “As in 2007, we see 40 different schools represented on this year’s semifinalist list – this again speaks to the level of baseball talent among college programs across the country.”