The 2007 NCBWA All-America Team is comprised from 21 different conferences and 19 conference championships teams. The three All-American squads are also made up of 22 conference Player of the Year winners.
All four 2007 Dick Howser Trophy finalists are first-team selections, including Conference USA Player of the Year Joe Savery (Rice), the NCAA strikeout leader and No. 1 overall pick of the 2007 Major League Draft, David Price (Vanderbilt), the ACC Player of the Year Tony Thomas, Jr. (Florida State) and the 2007 NCAA home run champion Kyle Russell (Texas).
The recipient of the 21st Annual Dick Howser Trophy, as voted upon by NCBWA members and awarded since 1987, will be announced Friday at 10 a.m. (CDT) at the Omaha Press Club (located at 16th and Dodge Streets, 22nd floor).
The NCBWA All-America team also includes the NCBWA Stopper of the Year award winner, right-hander Luke Prihoda (Sam Houston State), who led the NCAA with 18 saves. Prihoda was the 2007 Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year and Most Valuable Player of the 2007 SLC Tournament.
The 2007 All-America squad will be well-represented at the 2007 College World Series, which begins Friday, June 15, at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb. Seven of the eight teams at the CWS have at least one player on this years squad for a total of 11 players. No. 2 seed Rice (Joe Savery and Aaron Luna), No. 3 seed North Carolina (Dustin Ackley and Andrew Carnigan), No. 5 seed Arizona State (Brett Wallace and Kiel Roling) and Mississippi State (Edward Easley and Brandon Turner) have two players each.
Previous Pro-Line Athletic NCBWA All-America teams from 1996-2006 have featured the likes of OF J.D. Drew of Florida State, P-DH Jason Jennings of Baylor, 1B Mark Teixeira of Georgia Tech, RHP Mark Prior of Southern California, SS Khalil Greene of Clemson, and SS-2B Rickey Weeks of Southern (all current major leaguers) , among others.
Pro-Line Athletic is in its third year as a sponsor of the NCBWA. It produces and distributes plaques for National Hitter and Pitchers of the Week during the regular season and last season extended its award production to include plaques for each member of the Pro-Line/NCBWA All-American team.
During the Summer of 2006 Pro-Line launched into the custom game clothing business with all products being manufactured in its facility in Fort Worth, Texas. As a part of this transition, the company re-branded from Pro-Line Cap Company to become Pro-Line Athletic ... a full line athletic apparel company offering American Made headwear, workout gear and uniforms.