Tech Players Honored On All-Big 12 Squads
May 21, 2001 | Baseball
May 21, 2001
LUBBOCK, Texas - A total of nine Red Raider baseball players were named to the All-Big 12 Conference squads as voted on by the league's head coaches, the Big 12 announced on Monday.
Texas Tech earned three first-team selections, two second-team and three honorable mention. Leading the way for Tech on the first team was junior third baseman Nick Blankenship. Blankenship, a native of Santa Rosa, Calif., is the second leading hitter on the team and has been the most dominating defensive player in the Tech infield. Blankenship is currently hitting .353 with 88 hits and 10 home runs.
Austin Cranford, a junior designated hitter from Southlake, Texas, was named to the first-team as the utility player. Cranford leads the team with a .400 batting average and hit .449 in the Big 12 regular season. Rounding out the first-team selections for Texas Tech was senior ace Brandon Roberson. Roberson leads not only Texas Tech but the entire Big 12 in wins this season as he has accumulated a 13-3 record and has won 10-straight games. Roberson has pitched 110.0 innings allowing 52 earned runs.
Junior shortstop Gera Alvarez was named to the second-team list at shortstop while junior pitcher Chris Phillips was named to the second-team pitching staff and junior Kerry Hodges named to the list as an outfielder. Alvarez is the third leading hitter on the team while Phillips tallies the best ERA on the squad at 3.54. Hodges has been Tech's hottest hitter over the last month with a batting average of .435.
Rounding out Tech's selections on the All-Big 12 teams were Jason Rainey (outfield), Tony Arnerich (catcher) and Blake McGinley (reliever). All three players were named to the honorable mention list.