Student Publications
University of Houston
151C Communications Bldg
Houston, TX 77204-4015
713.743.5350

©1991-2007
Student Publications,
All rights reserved.

Last modified:

Contact:
ktruitt@uh.edu

Sports

Decade's best honored in preseason ceremony

Tomlinson named Most Outstanding Player on UH roster

Cougar Sports Services

Alumni, fans, players and coaches gathered to celebrate the future of Cougar baseball with a stroll down memory lane Saturday evening at the Athletics/Alumni Center during the 2005 UH Baseball preseason banquet. 

Former outfielder Goefrey Tomlinson, named the Most Outstanding Player on the 16-player roster, led the plethora of stars from the past decade as the roster of the Rayner Noble All-Decade Team was announced as Cougar head coach Rayner Noble begins his 11th year at the helm of Cougar baseball.

Tomlinson was the top vote-getter among the 2,700 ballots cast since the contest began in November, and the 2000 Cougar baseball team was recognized as the Most Outstanding Team in the past 10 years.

Tomlinson, a member of the first Conference USA championship team, earned three letters at UH, and his .427 batting average in 1997 represents the penultimate hitting mark in Cougar history and was the last time a Cougar hit .400 or above. 

The 2000 squad set a school record with 48 wins, crushing the previous record by four games, and elbowed their way into the championship game of the 2000 NCAA Super Regional at Cougar Field before getting knocked out of the tournament by San Jose State. The team captured both the C-USA regular-season title and the C-USA tournament.

Joining Tomlinson on the team: catcher Chris Snyder, first baseman J.P. Woodward, second baseman Ryan Ware, third Baseman Dustin Carr, shortstop Aaron Melebeck, outfielders Michael Bourn and Brandon Caraway, designated hitter Jarrod Bitter, starting pitchers Shane Nance, Brad Sullivan and Kyle Crowell, utility player Kevin Roberts and relief pitchers Ryan Wagner, Jesse Crain and Robert Dieudonne.

Snyder set a school record with 71 RBIs as a junior and was named a Baseball America Second-Team All-American.

Woodward, named to the team with the third highest vote total, won two letters at UH and appeared in two NCAA Regional teams. National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association named him a Third-Team All-American in 2000 when Woodward blasted 18 home runs, the second most in school history during a single season. His 30 homers in two seasons also rank him second in the record book. 

Ware was a member of the baseball team's first-ever Conference Tournament Championship team. Carr earned four letters for the Cougars and was named a Collegiate Baseball Third-Team All-American and to the C-USA All-Conference team.

Melebeck, named to the team as the shortstop, set the school record with 215 assists during the 2000 campaign and tops the list of Cougar hitters in NCAA tournament play with a sporty .459 batting average.

Bourne played on two UH Super Regional teams and ranks No. 2 in school history with 90 stolen bases, trailing only Caraway, who was named to three All C-USA Tournament teams. Caraway holds the top spot in the Cougar record book for hits, doubles, total bases and stolen bases. 

Nance was named on more than 87 percent of the ballots. A four-year letter winner, Nance earned 1997 Collegiate Baseball Freshmen First-Team All-American honors and ended his career at UH as the 2000 NCAA Regional at Houston Most Outstanding Player. He was a two-time member of Team USA and set UH career records with 32 wins and 411.1 innings pitched and ranked second in school history with 388 strikeouts. 

Sullivan earned 2001 Baseball Weekly Freshmen First-Team All-American honors and ended his career as a two-time member of the American Baseball Coaches Association All-South Central Region Team, five-time C-USA Pitcher of the Week and three-time Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week.

Current Cougar baseball player Kevin Roberts was named to the All-Decade Team as a utility player. In 2004 he led all Cougar hitters with a .374 batting average and ranked among the team leaders with six home runs and 31 RBIs.
 

Send comments to dcsports@mail.uh.edu