LUBBOCK, Texas - Georgia Southern Baseball's Victor Roache was named a Dick Howser Trophy Semifinalist a day after he broke the Southern Conference and Georgia Southern single-season home run records with his 28th big fly of the year. Roache joins three other players from the Southern Conference on the list of semifinalists.

The sophomore outfielder is second on the team with a .337 batting average to go along with his 28 home runs. Roache owns a .480 on-base percentage and is slugging at a .817 clip. In 53 starts this year, Roache has 68 hits with nearly half for extra-base hits.

The Ypsilanti, Mich., native is up for a number of awards this season. Roache is a candidate for Southern Conference Player of the Year and is on the Golden Spikes Award Watch List.

Leeds and Aldrich Named Dick Howser Award Semifinalists

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Redshirt-junior 3B Matt Leeds (Boca Raton, Fla.) and redshirt-freshman RF Daniel Aldrich (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) have been named semifinalists for the 2011 Dick Howser Trophy, awarded to the top collegiate baseball player by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).

Leeds is batting .356 with 18 home runs and a team-high 75 RBIs, good for third in the country, and was recently named to the Capital One Academic All-District 3 First Team as selected by CoSIDA. Aldrich ranks in the top-5 nationally in several offensive categories, including RBIs (72), home runs (22) and slugging percentage (.814).

The membership of the NCBWA will choose the Dick Howser Trophy Award recipient based on two rounds of national voting. This year's 25th anniversary of the Dick Howser Trophy presented by Easton Foundations will be made even more special by the awarding of this year's honor at TD Ameritrade Stadium in downtown Omaha, the new home of the College World Series. The award will be presented on Tuesday, June 21 at 10 a.m. CT, prior to the fourth day of the 2011 CWS.

The winner's name is inscribed on the permanent trophy, a bronze bust of Howser displayed at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg - home of the defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays and the 1999 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four - along with several other locations. Both the winner and his school receive a special trophy to keep.

NCBWA membership includes writers, broadcasters and publicists. Designed to promote and publicize college baseball, it is the sport's only college media-related organization, founded in 1962.

The Howser Trophy was created in 1987, shortly after Howser's death. Previous winners of the Howser Trophy are Mike Fiore, Miami, 1987; Robin Ventura, Oklahoma State, 1988; Scott Bryant, Texas, 1989; Alex Fernandez, Miami-Dade Community College South, 1990; Frank Rodriguez, Howard College (Texas), 1991; Brooks Kieschnick, Texas, 1992 and 1993; Jason Varitek, Georgia Tech, 1994; Todd Helton, Tennessee, 1995; Kris Benson, Clemson, 1996; J. D. Drew, Florida State, 1997; Eddy Furniss, LSU, 1998; Jason Jennings, Baylor, 1999; Mark Teixeira, Georgia Tech, 2000; Mark Prior, P, USC, 2001, Khalil Greene, SS, Clemson, 2002; Rickey Weeks, 2B, Southern U., 2003; Jered Weaver, P, Long Beach State, 2004; Alex Gordon, 3B, Nebraska, 2005; Brad Lincoln, P/DH, Houston, 2006; David Price, P, Vanderbilt, 2007; Buster Posey, C, Florida State, 2008 and Stephen Strasburg, P, San Diego State, 2009; Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice, 2010.

2011 DICK HOWSER TROPHY SEMIFINALISTS
Pos. Name, School
Trever Adams, OF, Creighton
Daniel Aldrich, OF, College of Charleston
James Allen, RP, Kansas State
Trevor Bauer, SP, UCLA
C.J. Cron, 1B, Utah
Cody Fick, UT, Evansville
Grayson Garvin, SP, Vanderbilt
Sean Gilmartin, SP, Florida State
Sonny Gray, SP, Vanderbilt
David Herbek, SS, James Madison
D.J. Hicks, DH, UCF
Jeff Holm, 1B, Michigan State
Danny Hultzen, UT, Virginia
Brian Johnson, UT, Florida
Taylor Jungmann, SP, Texas
Cory Knebel, RP, Texas
Jason Krizan, OF, Dallas Baptist
Tommy La Stella, 2B, Coastal Carolina
Matt Leeds, 3B, College of Charleston
Jake Lowery, C, James Madison
Mikie Mahtook, OF, LSU
Brad Miller, SS, Clemson
Chris O'Brien, C, Wichita State
Dan Paolini, 2B, Siena
Tyler Pill, UT, Cal State Fullerton
Matt Price, RP, South Carolina
Tyler Ray, SP, Troy
Anthony Rendon, DH, Rice
Victor Roache, OF, Georgia Southern
Will Roberts, SP, Virginia
Michael Roth, SP, South Carolina
George Springer, OF, Connecticut
Adam Brett Walker, 1B, Jacksonville
Brad Zebedis, DH, Presbyterian
Mike Zunino, C, Florida
Chad Zurcher, SS, Memphis