2006 Clemens Award Winner To Be Announced Wednesday Night
7/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 12, 2006
HOUSTON --- Rice senior Eddie Degerman is among the four national finalists for the July 12 presentation of the annual Clemens Award as the top pitcher in all of college baseball. The "Cy Young Award of College Baseball" will be announced in front of a sellout crowd Wednesday night at the Marriott Westchase Hotel in Houston.
Degerman and fellow finalists Brad Lincoln (Houston), Tim Lincecum (Washington) and Andrew Miller (North Carolina) have a full day of activities before the announcement, including a visit to the pediatric cancer ward at Texas Children's Hospital and alter an on-line chat session with college baseball fans across the country on BaseballAmerica.com.
The Roger Clemens Award is named after major league great and current Houston Astro Roger Clemens. As a professional, Clemens has won 342 games (ninth-best in history), fanned more than 4,500 hitters and been honored with seven Cy Young Awards as the top pitcher in his league. The Roger Clemens Award is the only award of its kind, honoring the finest pitchers in college baseball.
The award's original watch list was comprised of an elite list of Division I pitchers who were named as pre-season all-America by either Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball or the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. After beginning on the watch list of some 65, including his Rice teammates Joe Savery and Cole St.Clair, Degerman went on to have one of the best seasons in the country with a 13-2 record and 2.00 ERA. The Owls' ace struck out a Conference USA record 172 batters in 130.2 innings on the way to leading the Blue & Gray to a 57-13 record and number-one ranking in the country for most of the season.
The finalists for the 2006 Roger Clemens Award were selected in voting by a national panel that includes: all Division 1 head baseball coaches, a selection of national media who cover collegiate baseball, the 16 winners of the R. E. "Bob" Smith Award, which was presented to the top player in the country here in Houston from 1988-2003. In addition, the six previous finalists for the Clemens Award are also issued ballots. At the conclusion of a gala dinner, future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens will announce the 2006 award winner.
The event is administered by the Greater Houston Baseball Association, who has donated over $200,000 to the charities from the net proceeds from the first two dinners. The GHBA is a non-profit 501.3 (C) organization dedicated to the growth of amateur baseball in the Houston area.
