HOUSTON - Rice's Wade Townsend has been named as one of three national finalists for the new Roger Clemens Award as the top pitcher in college baseball, the award's organizers announced on Wednesday.
Townsend, the number eight pick overall in Monday's Major League Baseball amateur draft, is joined by J. P. Howell (Texas) and Jered Weaver (Long Beach State) as the first class of finalists. The winner will be announced at the conclusion of the first Roger Clemens Award Dinner, which will be held in at the Hilton Americas Hotel in Houston on July 15.
The three pitchers were selected from a field of 10 semifinalists in a national vote of all Division I head baseball coaches, selected national college baseball media, and the previous winners of the R. E. Bob Smith Award, which was presented to the top player in college baseball from 1988-2003.
The Roger Clemens Award Dinner will be held two days after the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Houston. Clemens, whose 9-0 start has made him the leading candidate to start for the National League All Stars, will be on hand at the dinner as both the featured guest speaker and to present the inaugural Roger Clemens Award to the winner. Though only in its first year, the new honor is on the fast track to becoming the Cy Young Award for College Baseball.
Not only was Townsend a perfect 12-0 for the Owls and the 2004 WAC Pitcher of the Year, he was also named the Academic All-American of the Year by the College Sports Information Directors of America. The standout from Dripping Springs fanned 10-or-more hitters six times this season and ranks fifth on the Owls career strikeout list with 363. He finished the season with a career won-lost record of 25-3. J.P. Howell is 13-2 for the Longhorns while Jered Weaver is 15-1 for Long Beach State.
Tables and tickets for the first Roger Clemens Award are now on sale through the award's web site (
www.clemensaward.com). Interested parties can download the dinner sales brochure (as a pdf) from that site or order tickets by calling The Greater Houston Baseball Association at (713) 739-0505.
The Award's sponsor, the Greater Houston Baseball Association, is a non-profit 5013.c organization. All net proceeds from the dinner and silent auction will be distributed to The Roger Clemens Foundation, Baseball USA and the Karl Young Summer College Baseball League.