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**Courtesy of The University Athletic Department for The Florida Gators****
OMAHA, Neb. – Florida junior catcher Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) is the 26th recipient of the Dick Howser Trophy, presented by Easton Foundations, as college baseball’s Player of the Year.
The presentation was made on Friday morning as part of a news conference at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha with several other 2012 national honors being named.
Zunino became the first University of Florida player to win the Dick Howser Trophy in a group represented by 20 different schools and 13 conferences since its inception in 1987 with Miami (Fla.) standout Mike Fiore.
Zunino will also be honored during the College Baseball Foundation’s Night of Champions, along with 2012 College Baseball Hall of Fame inductees and other Division I honorees June 30 in Lubbock, Texas.
The consensus All-American and 2012 honoree from Cape Coral, Fla., via Mariner High School, led the Gators to a school-record-tying runner-up finish to South Carolina in the 2011 NCAA College World Series and paced UF into a rematch with the two-time defending champion Gamecocks in Saturday in Omaha (live at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN).
Zunino helped the Gators to a two-game sweep of NC State in the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional last weekend with 4-for-8 hitting, a .500 average, three RBI, two runs scored and his SEC-leading 19th homer of the 2012 season.
He arrived in Omaha as both a 2011 and ’12 All-American, as well as the 2011 SEC Player of the Year and the league’s first-team catcher both years, with top-10 totals nationally in almost every individual statistical category.
On June 4, he became the highest draft choice in school history as the No. 3 selection in the first round to the Seattle Mariners. That also capped a third-consecutive season on the All-Tournament Team of the NCAA Gainesville Regional and back-to-back Super Regional crowns over Mississippi State and the Wolfpack. Zunino was the first UF standout to be drafted in the first round since Matt LaPorta in 2007.
“Mike Zunino epitomizes the true qualities of Dick Howser – ability, leadership, character, and courage,” said Howser Trophy chair David Feaster of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. “He has taken Florida to new heights in the past two years as well as being a tremendous team leader and go-to student-athlete in all areas.”
After passing on a 30th-round Draft selection by the Oakland A’s when he was a senior at Mariner H.S. in 2009, Zunino has excelled with the bat and catcher’s mitt while maturing into one of the top players in UF’s illustrious baseball history.
In 2010 as a freshman, Zunino was both a Freshman All-America and SEC All-Freshman squad member. He was both Florida’s starting catcher and designated hitter and earned the first of his three All-Tournament accolades in the NCAA Gainesville Regional by batting .364 with a 4-for-11 showing.
His selection and NCBWA voting in 2012 was some of the closest in years, as Zunino edged two other standout finalists in senior first baseman Goose Kallunki of Utah Valley State and junior outfielder Raph Rhymes of LSU.
The Dick Howser Trophy, given in memory of the former Florida State University All-America shortstop and Major League player and manager who died of brain cancer in 1987, is regarded by many as college baseball’s most prestigious award. Criteria for consideration for the trophy include performance on the field, leadership, moral character, and courage, qualities which were exemplified by Dick Howser’s life.
NCBWA membership includes writers, broadcasters and publicists. Designed to promote and publicize college baseball, it is the sport’s only college media-related organization, founded in 1962.
