June 5, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State baseball players Travis Buck and Erik Averill have been named First-Team Freshman All-Americans by Collegiiate Baseball Newspaper.
Buck and Averill, who shared the ASU Baseball Freshman Newcomer of the Year Award, were immediate impact players for the nationally ranked Sun Devils (53-12). The duo marks the third straight year that a Sun Devil has earned first-team freshman All-America honors, as Jeremy West (2001) and Dustin Pedroia (2002) were also selected.
Buck, a freshman outfielder from Richland, Wash., enters the super regional this weekend against Cal State Fullerton hitting .338 (77-for-228) with 13 doubles, three triples, four home runs and 45 RBI. He needs just six hits to break the freshman school record set last year by Dustin Pedroia (82) and is one run away from tying Barry Bonds (1983) for the freshman record for runs scored (60). He was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention selection and has been invited to the USA Baseball National Team Trials this summer.
Averill (Orange, Calif.) heads into the super regional with an 8-1 record and a 3.39 ERA. The freshman lefty has struck out 53 and walked only 18 in 79.2 innings. Winning his first seven decisions, Averill started his ASU career with a memorable outing vs. Hawaii-Hilo (1/18), throwing seven and two-thirds no-hit innings.
Buck and Averill, and the rest of the Sun Devil Baseball team are just two wins away from their 19th appearance in Omaha and the College World Series. ASU takes on National No. 7 seed Cal State Fullerton this weekend in a best-of-three series starting Friday at 4:05 p.m.