UF Baseball's Nolan Fontana Named To Top-25 List For Brooks Wallace Award
Tuesday, May 22, 2012 | Baseball
Florida junior Nolan Fontana (Winter Garden, Fla.) was among the Top 25 players for the Brooks Wallace Shortstop of the Year Award announced by the College Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday afternoon. The award, sponsored by Mizuno, recognizes the nation's top shortstop and will be presented June 30 in Lubbock, Texas, as part of the College Baseball Hall of Fame's Night of Champions.
Fontana has started 55 games this season for the second-ranked Gators (40-16), is hitting .281 and boasts team highs in runs (47), walks (40) and stolen bases (11-for-11). He has totaled 27 RBI, belted a career-high nine homers, poked nine doubles and sports a fielding percentage of .983.
The SEC and Pac-12 both have five representatives on the list. The ACC, Big 10 and Ohio Valley, each with two, are the only other conferences with multiple representatives.
“Those two conferences are certainly baseball powerhouses, but it's great to see shortstops from smaller conferences performing just as well,” said Tyler Young, Wallace Award co-chair. “The smaller conference players have outstanding numbers that are just as competitive as the players from larger conferences.”
“Watching the success these 25 players have had this season has been great,” said Kevin Dunagan, Wallace Award co-chair. “We look forward to seeing how they do as we near the end of the season and head into postseason play.”
Fontana and the third-seeded Gators will begin the 2012 SEC Tournament on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. ET versus 10th-seeded Auburn (30-26). The game will be televised on CSS, Channel 259 on Cox Communications in the Gainesville/Ocala area.
2012 Brooks Wallace Award Watch List
| Alfredo Rodriguez | Maryland | ACC |
| Chris Diaz | NC State | ACC |
| Chad Christensen | Nebraska | Big 10 |
| David Miller | Purdue | Big 10 |
| Mikey Reynolds | Texas A&M | Big 12 |
| Mike Miller | Cal Poly | Big West |
| Ashley Graeter | Southern Miss | C-USA |
| Alex Jones | Northern Illinois | Mid-American |
| Eric Stamets | Evansville | MVC |
| Richie Rodriguez | Eastern Kentucky | OVC |
| Kenton Parmley | SE Missouri State | OVC |
| Alex Mejia | Arizona | Pac-12 |
| J.J. Altobelli | Oregon | Pac-12 |
| Tyler Smith | Oregon State | Pac-12 |
| Kenny Diekroeger | Stanford | Pac-12 |
| Pat Valaika | UCLA | Pac-12 |
| Jared Reaves | Alabama | SEC |
| Tim Carver | Arkansas | SEC |
| Nolan Fontana | FLORIDA | SEC |
| Austin Nola | LSU | SEC |
| Anthony Gomez | Vanderbilt | SEC |
| Will Callaway | Appalachian State | Southern |
| Cam Schiller | Oral Roberts | Summit |
| Zach Voight | New Mexico State | WAC |
| Zach Vincej | Pepperdine | WCC |
