June 11, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Led by first-team selection Dustin Pedroia, four Arizona State Baseball pplayers earned All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA).
Pedroia (first team), junior second baseman Steve Garrabrants (second team), sophomore first baseman Jeff Larish (third team) and senior right-handed pitcher Jered Liebeck (third team) were named to the three-squad All-America team. The four ASU selections marked the most of by any school on the annual All-America squad. Sports information directors from across the nation and various sports media outlets voted on the team. Pedroia is one of three Sun Devils to be selected to try out for the USA Baseball National team this summer.
Pedroia (Woodland, Calif.) finished the year hitting .404 (120-for-297), marking the 16th time in ASU Baseball history a player has hit over .400 in a season. His 120 hits were fourth most in ASU single-season history and he set ASU and Pac-10 records with 34 doubles. Pedroia was also named the Pac-10 co-Player of the Year with Stanford's Ryan Garko, first-team All-American by Collegiate Baseball and USA Today/Sports Weekly, in addition to earning NCBWA District IX Player of the Year honors.
Garrabrants (Phoenix, Ariz.) was a second-team selection at second base after hitting .324 (69-for-213) with 56 runs scored, 16 doubles, three triples, eight home runs and 59 RBI. He was a First-Team All-Pac-10 selection and finished second in the conference with 23 stolen bases. Garrabrants was drafted in the ninth round by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Larish (Tempe, Ariz.) was selected as the third-team first baseman along with Nebraska senior Matt Hopper. Larish spent most of the 2003 season rewriting the ASU record books. He finished the year fourth on the team hitting .372 (87-for-234) with 18 doubles, two triples and 18 home runs. He recorded 95 RBI to rank fifth in ASU single-season history and his 78 walks were second best in the record books. Larish also broke the single-season record with four grand slams and tied ASU's single-game records with nine RBI (1/26 vs. SDSU) and four doubles (5/25 vs. Arizona).
Liebeck was selected as one of the pitchers in the third tier of the All-American team after going 8-0 with a 2.88 ERA during his senior season. Liebeck appeared in 21 games (13 starts) and gave up just 25 earned runs in 78.0 innings. His best start came early in the year when he threw a complete-game, three-hit shutout over nationally ranked Long Beach State to earn Pac-10 and National Pitcher of the Week honors.