June 12, 2008

Baseball America named three Conference USA players to its 2008 All-American teams, the publication announced on Thursday. East Carolina senior C Corey Kemp, the C-USA Player of the Year, was named to the second team, while Tulane junior P Shooter Hunt, the C-USA Pitcher of the Year, and Southern Miss senior pitcher Barry Bowden were both named as third team All-Americans.

Kemp became the second Pirate to be named C-USA Player of the Year. He was one of the most productive hitters in Conference USA all season long, leading the league RBI (72) and ranking second in home runs (16), while batting .341 with a .628 slugging percentage. Kemp produced 23 multi-hit and 20 multi-RBI games and had 11 game-winning RBI. In 24 conference games, he batted .319 with 10 homers and 38 RBI.

Hunt led Tulane and Conference USA in opponent batting average (.175), total strikeouts (126), and strikeouts looking (48). Hunt also led the team with nine wins and paced the club while ranking second in the conference with a 2.68 ERA and topped the circuit with 100.2 innings pitched. With 126 strikeouts, Hunt becomes the fourth Tulane hurler in as many years to eclipse the 100-K mark in a season. In addition, Hunt ranks fifth in the NCAA in strikeouts and hits allowed per nine innings (5.54) and 12th in strikeouts per nine innings (11.26). His .175 opponent batting average in 2008 is a Tulane single-season record, surpassing the former mark of .203 set by Jason Navarro in 1997, and is fifth in strikeout-per-nine-inning average (11.26).

Bowden was a first team All Conference-USA selection this season, was named C-USA pitcher of the week three times and national pitcher of the week twice in the same week by two different publications. He was 8-3 with a 2.12 ERA this season recording 78 strikeouts while walking only 22 and limiting opposing hitters to a .188 average.

The staff of Baseball America selects the All-America teams after the round of super-regional play. For more information on Baseball America magazine, visit www.baseballamerica.com.