Cesario Named to Wallace Award Watch List
12/11/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Dec. 11, 2007
HOUSTON - University of Houston junior infielder Jimmy Cesario recently was named to the preseason 2008 Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Award Watch List.
Cesario, a native of Metairie, La., led the Cougars in 2007 with a .352 batting average and added 13 doubles, three home runs and 35 RBIs. He recorded a 20-game hitting streak midway through the season, becoming only the fifth player in school history to reach that milestone.
He was named to the All-Conference USA First Team and earned the league's first Newcomer of the Year Award.
Cesario and his Cougar teammates open the 2008 season at 6:30 p.m., Feb. 22, in the first game of a non-conference series against Pacific at Cougar Field.
The Wallace Award is presented to the nation's top collegiate baseball player in conjunction with the College Baseball Hall of Fame's annual induction festivities. The 2008 award banquet will be held July 3 in the United Spirit Arena on the campus of Texas Tech University.
In 2006, UH righthander/DH Brad Lincoln captured the award, one of four national player of the year accolades that the Clute native claimed that season. A year ago, Vanderbilt pitcher David Price won the award.
The Wallace Award is a dedication to the memory of former Texas Tech player and assistant coach Brooks Wallace. Wallace was a slick-fielding shortstop from 1977 to 1980. A four-year starter, he was named to the All-Southwest Conference and All-District teams as a senior.
He led the Red Raiders to their first appearance in the Southwest Conference Tournament in 1980. After playing two years in the Texas Rangers organization, he returned to Texas Tech and served as a graduate assistant and later as an assistant coach.
In the summer of 1984, he was diagnosed with cancer and fought the disease courageously until his death on March 24, 1985, at the age of 27. The Plano native was married to the former Sandy Arnold, and they had a daughter, Lindsay Ryan.
