CORPUS CHRISTI, TEX. --- Texas A&M-Corpus
Christi's Humberto Aguilar (Odessa, Tex.) received first team
All-South Central Region accolades as well as garnered third team
all-American honors by the American Baseball Coaches Association,
it was announced.
"What made Bert good was the fact he not only hit for power, but
hit for a high average all season," said Islander head coach Hector
Salinas. "He delivered many clutch hits throughout the course of
the year.
?Bert is very deserving of these honors," continued Salinas. "He
worked very hard to achieve all of this."
Aguilar, who put the finishing touches of a stellar two-year career
for the Islanders, hit .402 with 20 homers and 74 RBI in his final
campaign. He finished the season ranked nationally in all three
offensive categories (tied for 36th in batting average; 3rd in
homers per game and 5th in RBI per game). Aguilar's homer and RBI
totals also established new school single-season standards.
Aguilar becomes the first student-athlete to receive All-American
status since A&M-CC re-initiated its athletic program five
years ago. He was one of five players from the region to bestowed
with the honor. Along with being selected a third teamer by the
ABCA, Aguilar was also tabbed an honorable mention All-American by
CollegeBaseballInsider.com.
Southern's Rickie Weeks, who was the second selection in the 2003
MLB Amateur Draft as well as closer Ryan Wagner of Houston were the
lone first team honorees from the South Central Region. Weeks led
the nation with a .483 batting average, while Wagner tallied a 1.93
ERA and 15 saves, which ranked second nationally.
Aguilar's all-regional selection makes it the third-consecutive
season that the Islanders have had at least one representative on
either team. He is the first-ever first team recipient, while
former standouts Josh Wilson and Roberto Santana collected second
team honors in 2001 and 2002 respectively.
The South Central Region is comprised of 33 schools. Among the
conferences represented are the Sun Belt (7 schools), Southland (10
schools), Southwestern Athletic (10), Atlantic Sun (1), Conference
USA (1) and the Western Athletic (1). Besides A&M-CC, the
region also includes fellow Independents UT-Pan American and
Centenary. Head coaches in the region selected the two teams.
Fourteen players were chosen for the first team and 12 on the
second team.
2003 American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings all-South
Central Region
First Team
Pitchers: Brandon Hankins (Southwest Texas), Brad Sullivan
(Houston), Jesse Floyd (Lamar) and closer Ryan Wagner (Houston)
Catcher: Andrew Kasparek (Sam Houston State); First Base - Humberto
Aguilar (Texas A&M-CC); Second Base - Rickie Weeks (Southern);
Third Base - Ryan Roberts (UT-Arlington); Shortstop - Chuck Hickman
(Nicholls State); Designated Hitter - John Allen (Lamar)
Outfielders - Ryan Mulhern (South Alabama); Ricardo Nanita (Florida
International); Jordan Foster (Lamar) and Corey Coles (UL
Lafayette).
