July 6, 2012

Zunino Named National Player of the Year by CBI

Ramsey, Heaney, Gonzales also earn individual honors on All-American team

RICHMOND, Va. – Florida junior catcher Mike Zunino (left), who led the Gators to their third straight trip to the College World Series, has been named the 2012 National Player of the Year by CollegeBaseballInsider.com.

Joining Zunino as CollegeBaseballInsider.com All-Americans are: Hitter of the Year James Ramsey of Florida State; Pitcher of the Year Andrew Heaney of Oklahoma State; and Utility Player of the Year Marco Gonzales of Gonzaga. The quartet leads the All-Americans named by CollegeBaseballInsider.com, which has been covering college baseball on a national level since 2002.

Zunino led the Gators’ offense, batting .322 with 28 doubles, 19 home runs and 67 RBI. He posted a slugging percentage of .669 and was 9 for 10 in stolen bases. As valuable as Zunino was at the plate, he was even more valuable behind the dish. He worked with a pitching staff that registered a team ERA of 2.92 with an opponent batting average of .243. Florida hurlers walked 138 and struck out 505.

“Mike Zunino was one of the major contributors to Florida’s success in 2012,” said Phil Stanton, CBI co-founder. “He helped the Gators earn the No. 1 national seed in the NCAA Tournament and reach the College World Series for the third consecutive season. He truly had a remarkable season”

Ramsey (right), a senior, batted .378 for the Seminoles with 13 doubles, 13 homers, 78 runs and 58 RBI. He recorded a slugging percentage of .652 and drew 63 walks to help his on-base percentage of .513, third-best in the country. The emotional leader of the team, Ramsey contributed to a 50-win season and helped Florida State reach the College World Series for the third time in the past five seasons.

Heaney (left), a junior, put together a brilliant campaign for the Cowboys, going 8-2 with a 1.60 ERA. The lefty ranked in the top 10 in the country in strikeouts (140 – first), WHIP (0.81 – second), ERA (1.60 – sixth), hits allowed per nine innings (5.63 – sixth) and strikeout/walk ratio (6.36 – ninth). In addition, Heaney threw six complete games with three shutouts, with opponents hitting .180 against him.

Gonzales went 8-2 in 12 starts on the mound for the Bulldogs with an ERA of 1.55. He hurled 92.2 innings with three complete games. Gonzales fanned 92 and walked 23. At the plate, Gonzales hit .325 with 10 doubles, two home runs, 29 RBI and 23 runs.

2012 CollegeBaseballInsider.com All-America Team

First Team

C Mike Zunino, Florida

1B Goose Kallunki, Utah Valley

2B Alex Yarbrough, Ole Miss

SS Alex Mejia, Arizona

3B D.J. Peterson, New Mexico

OF Travis Jankowski, Stony Brook (right)

OF James Ramsey, Florida State

OF Robert Refsnyder, Arizona

OF Raph Rhymes, LSU

DH William Carmona, Stony Brook

UTIL Marco Gonzales, Gonzaga

SP Kevin Gausman, LSU

SP Andrew Heaney, Oklahoma State

SP Kurt Heyer, Arizona

SP Nick Petree, Missouri State

SP Carlos Rodon, NC State

SP Chris Stratton, Mississippi State

RP Robert Benincasa, Florida State

RP Michael Morin, North Carolina

RP Jimmy Sherfy, Oregon

Second Team

C Kevin Plawecki, Purdue (right)

1B Chris Serritella, Southern Illinois

2B Jamodrick McGruder, Texas Tech

SS Jimmy Rider, Kent State

3B Trenton Moses, Southeast Missouri

OF Michael Conforto, Oregon State

OF Jeff Gelalich, UCLA

OF Mitch Haniger, Cal Poly

OF Brandon Miller, Samford

DH Josh Ludy, Baylor

UTIL Brian Johnson, Florida

SP Mark Appel, Stanford

SP Tyler Johnson, Stony Brook

SP Alex Keudell, Oregon

SP Adam Plutko, UCLA

SP Josh Turley, Baylor

SP Michael Wacha, Texas A&M

RP Aaron Burke, Coastal Carolina

RP Stefan Lopez, Southeastern Louisiana

RP Travis Parker, Saint Louis

RP Michael Wagner, San Diego

Honorable Mention

C Mitchell Garver, New Mexico

C Jon Leroux Northeastern

C Jeremy Lucas, Indiana State

C Luke Maile, Kentucky

C Tom Murphy, Buffalo

1B Taylor Ard, Washington State

1B Nick Backlund, Mercer

1B Jayce Boyd, Florida State (right)

1B Ryan McCauley, Niagara

1B Zach Stephens, Tennessee Tech

2B Michael Felton, Campbell

2B Jordan Hankins, Austin Peay

2B Brock Hebert, Southeastern Louisiana

2B Joe Sever, Pepperdine

2B Maxx Tissenbaum, Stony Brook

SS Chris Diaz, NC State

SS Anthony Gomez, Vanderbilt

SS Ryan Kresky, Fairleigh Dickinson

SS Richie Rodriguez, Eastern Kentucky

SS Zach Vincej, Pepperdine

SS Matt Wessinger, St. John’s

3B Kris Bryant, San Diego

3B Patrick Kivlehan, Rutgers

3B Matt Reynolds, Arkansas

3B Richie Shaffer, Clemson

3B Trea Turner, NC State

OF Jeremy Baltz, St. John’s (right)

OF Sean Bignall, UALR

OF Daniel Bowman, Coastal Carolina

OF Billy Burgess, Utah Valley

OF Albert Carpen, Chicago State

OF Boomer Collins, Dallas Baptist

OF Taylor Dugas, Alabama

OF Marty Gantt, College of Charleston

OF Kendall Logan, Jackson State

OF Tyler Naquin, Texas A&M

OF Dario Pizzano, Columbia

OF Danny Poma, Hofstra

OF Jeff Roy, Rhode Island

OF Preston Tucker, Florida

OF Logan Vick, Baylor

DH Andrew Ayers, Sacramento State

DH Greg Bachman, Austin Peay

DH Preston Beck, UT Arlington

DH Chris Burke, Iona

DH Jake Davies, Georgia Tech

DH Ryan Haas, Delaware State

DH D.J. Hicks, UCF

DH Daniel Kassouf, Appalachian State

DH Ryan Matthews, NC State

DH Jared Schlehuber, Oral Roberts

DH Jacob Wilson, Memphis

UTIL J.T. Chargois, Rice

UTIL Michael Lorenzen, Cal State Fullerton

UTIL Stephen Piscotty, Stanford (right)

UTIL Drew Reynolds, East Carolina

SP Justin Amlung, Louisville

SP Matt Davenport, William and Mary

SP Dylan Floro, Cal State Fullerton

SP Rayan Gonzalez, Bethune-Cookman

SP Joe Haase, Purdue

SP Peter Kelich, Bryant

SP Pat Light, Monmouth

SP Preston Morrison, TCU

SP Matthew Reckling, Rice

SP Brady Rodgers, Arizona State

SP Michael Roth, South Carolina

SP Chris Rowley, Army

SP Ryne Stanek, Arkansas

SP David Starn, Kent State

SP Ross Stripling, Texas A&M

SP Marcus Stroman, Duke

SP Andrew Thurman, UC Irvine

SP Bobby Wahl, Ole Miss

SP Kevin Wild, Valparaiso

SP Trevor Williams, Arizona State

SP Kyle Zimmer, San Francisco

RP David Berg, UCLA

RP Alex Cruz, Georgia Tech

RP Scott Griggs, UCLA

RP Owen Jones, Portland

RP Corey Knebel, Texas (right)

RP Blake Mascarello, Purdue

RP Robbie Powell, Stetson

RP Matt Price, South Carolina

RP Dustin Quattrochi, SIU Edwardsville

RP Steven Rodriguez, Florida

RP Joe Rogers, UCF

(Piscotty photo by Zach Sanderson/Stanford.com, others courtesy of each school's Media Relations Office)