May 6, 2011
ATLANTA – Georgia Tech junior Jacob Esch has been named as a quarterfinalist for the 2011 Brooks Wallace Award, the College Baseball Hall of Fame announced. The list features 25 of the nation’s finest Division I shortstops.
Esch is batting .324 with 20 doubles, four home runs and 34 RBI in 52 starts this season. The St. Paul, Minn. native has been outstanding defensively, having turned 27 double plays while making a conference-leading 156 assists.
The Wallace Award, sponsored by Mizuno, recognizes the nation’s top shortstop and will be presented on July 3 in Lubbock, Texas, as part of the College Baseball Hall of Fame’s Night of Champions.
“These players highlight another outstanding group of shortstops,” said Tyler Young, Wallace Award co-chair. “The players feature very good offensive statistics combined with outstanding defense.”
The watch list features shortstops from 15 conferences, with the ACC and SEC leading the pack with four representatives each.
Four of the nation’s top 10 batting averages are represented on the list, including the nation’s leading hitter, Chad Zurcher of Memphis. Zurcher also has been very good defensively with only six errors.
Regarded by many as two of the top defensive shortstops in the country entering the season, Brandon Loy of the University of Texas and LSU’s Austin Nola appear on the list.
“Shortstop is a premium defensive position and we pay close attention to defensive play,” said Kevin Dunagan, Wallace Award co-chair. “The task of reducing the nation’s shortstops down to 25 is not simple.”
