March 19, 2007
 |
|
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Junior catcher Shea Robin was named to the initial Johnny Bench Award List by The Greater Wichita Area Sports Commission.
Twenty-seven catchers from seventeen conferences were nominated for the award by their coaches. Because the award is given annually to the top Division I collegiate catcher, the list will be updated to include other candidates until May 7.
Robin is one of four catchers from the Southeastern Conference to be on the list, joining Tennessee’s J.P. Arencibia, Mississippi State’s Edward Easley and LSU’s Robert Lara.
The Woodlands, Texas, native is hitting .311 on the season with a homer and 11 RBI. He has made only one error on the season in 188 chances (.995 fielding percentage) and has thrown out eight base runners in 18 chances.
The watch list will be narrowed down to ten semi-finalists on May 17.
The Commodores picked up two No. 1 rankings this week by Baseball America and Rivals.com. VU was also ranked in the top spot by the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll for the third straight week and by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association for the fourth consecutive time. Collegiate Baseball, which had ranked Vanderbilt No. 1 for the last four weeks, dropped the team to No. 2 in favor or 23-0 Florida State.
Vanderbilt will host Western Kentucky in midweek action Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT at Hawkins Field. Junior right hander Ty Davis will start on the mound for the Commodores.
