Seventy-six of the best pitchers in collegiate baseball have been named to the preliminary watch list for the fifth annual Roger Clemens Award. The list includes a trio of Southern Conference pitchers including Steven Hensley of Elon, Furman’s Jay Jackson and Appalachian State’s Garrett Sherrill.

Also on the list are 36 players who were members of the 2007 Clemens Award watch list and 24 who are members of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s preseason all-America squad.

Players from 24 NCAA Division 1 conferences are on the list, including nine players each from the Pacific 10 and Southeastern conferences. Two schools have three players on the list (Arizona State and Rice), and eight have two players listed: Creighton, Lamar, Louisville, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Old Dominion and Wichita State.

Previous winners of the Roger Clemens Award were Jered Weaver of Long Beach State (2004), Luke Hochevar of Tennessee (2005), Andrew Miller of North Carolina (2006), and David Price of Vanderbilt (2007).

The finalists for the 2007 Roger Clemens Award will be 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 in Houston in 1988-2003. In addition, the 13 previous finalists for the Clemens Award are also issued ballots. The 2008 award will be presented this summer.

The Roger Clemens Award was named after legendary pitcher Roger Clemens, who began his march to stardom while leading the University of Texas to the College World Series title in 1983. As a major leaguer, Clemens won 354 games (eighth best in history), fanned 4,672 hitters and won seven Cy Young Awards, emblematic 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.