2012 TINO MARTINEZ SEMIFINALISTS ANNOUNCED

"In my 28 years of coaching college baseball, including six at the Division II level, Tino Martinez was the most dominant player I have ever coached against. He had an aura about him that allowed him to stand out and made you realize he was destined for greatness. Although you hated to coach against him because he made his team so hard to beat, you also realized you were witnessing something special in this extraordinary ballplayer. I have always had great admiration for him as a ballplayer, and as I got to know him later in life, I came to realize he also was an outstanding person." Paul Mainieri, Head Baseball Coach Louisiana State University

The Semifinalists for the 2012 Tino Martinez Award have been revealed. The award is presented to the most outstanding player in DII college baseball. The annual honor is named after the former University of Tampa Spartan, United States Olympian, first round draft pick and MLB All-Star, Tino Martinez.

The fifty-five semi-finalists represent forty-eight different schools from across the nation. Seven schools, Grand Valley State, Mercyhurst, North Alabama, Nova Southeastern, St. Anselm, St. Mary's and Western Oregon each had two players on the list.

Each of the eight geographic regions are represented, with a minimum of six players selected from each area. Six players comprise the semi-finalists from the Atlantic, Central, East and West Regions, seven student-athletes make up the list from the Midwest and South Central, eight from the Southeast and nine players have been included from the South.

Initial nominations for the award were made by baseball sports information contacts and media members. A panel of media, coaches and sports information officers will be polled to finalize the candidates. The group will once again vote on the finalists, with a fan Internet vote also contributing to the crowning of the winner.

The finalists are scheduled to be named on Monday, May 21st. The winner will be announced after the conclusion of the DII Baseball Championship held in Cary, NC from May 26th to June 2th.

Chase Larsson of the Cameron Aggies was the recipient of the 2011 Tino Martinez DII Player of the Year Award. Larsson finished the season for the Aggies leading DII in home runs (29), RBI (84), slugging percentage (1.000) and total bases (190). He also finished the regular season batting .432, good for 11th overall in the nation. Larsson also incredibly established a new NCAA Division II record when he mashed a homerun in nine consecutive games during one stretch. Mount Olive's Carter Capps, the 2011 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association's National Pitcher of the Year, finished in a close second.

Erskine's Bryan Fogle of won the first edition of the award in 2010 after batting .430 and leading DII with 28 home runs, 103 RBI (the second most in NCAA history) and 203 total bases. The Flying Fleet star was drafted by Tampa Bay following the season. Runner-up Hayden Simpson of Southern Arkansas was a first round draft choice of the Chicago Cubs.

ATLANTIC REGION
Last Name	First Name	Yr	Pos	School	Conference
Latshaw	Shane	Sr.	OF	Mercyhurst	PSAC
Minnich	Nathan	Sr.	1B/DH	Shepherd	WVIAC
Petty	Kyle	Jr.	UTL	Cal U (PA)	PSAC
Rawding	Ben	Jr.	LHP	Mercyhurst	PSAC
Sell	Nicholas	Fr.	3B	Seton Hill	WVIAC
Wendle	Joe	Jr.	2B/SS	West Chester	PSAC
CENTRAL REGION
Last Name	First Name	Yr	Pos	School	Conference
Birr	Logan	Sr.	RHP	St. Cloud State	NSIC
Hansen	Derek	Jr.	UTL	Augustana (SD)	NSIC
Kincaid	Ben	Sr.	P/OF	Minnesota State	NSIC
Lippincott	Bryan	Sr.	3B	Concordia St. Paul	NSIC
Popick	Jeff	Sr.	OF	Colorado Mesa	RMAC
Wuest	Brian	Jr.	OF	Nebraska-Kearney	RMAC
EAST REGION
Last Name	First Name	Yr	Pos	School	Conference
Cannon	Casey	Jr.	RHP	Le Moyne	NE-10
Flight	Tim	Jr.	LHP	Southern New Hampshire	NE-10
Harbach	Joe	Sr.	OF	Wilmington	CACC
Healy	John	Sr.	LHP	St. Anselm	NE-10
Kelly	Robert	Jr.	P/1B	St. Anselm	NE-10
Mathieu	Zach	So.	1B	Franklin Pierce	NE-10
MIDWEST REGION
Last Name	First Name	Yr	Pos	School	Conference
Anderson	Steve	Sr.	OF	Grand Valley State	GLIAC
Cacique	Brayan	Sr.	2B/OF	Lake Erie	GLIAC
Drake	Donovan	Sr.	RHP	U Indy	GLVC
Grana	Kyle	Jr.	RHP	Bellarmine	GLVC
Loeding	Brett	Jr.	RHP	Northern Kentucky	GLVC
Priestes	Aaron	Jr.	OF	Quincy	GLVC
Schepel	Kyle	Sr.	RHP	Grand Valley State	GLIAC
SOUTH REGION
Last Name	First Name	Yr	Pos	School	Conference
Asuaje	Carlos	So.	2B	Nova Southeastern	Sunshine St
Bierman	Sean	Sr.	LHP	Tampa	Sunshine St
Boughner	Chad	Jr.	RHP	North Alabama	Gulf South
Boza	Anthony	Sr.	1B	Lynn	Sunshine St
Cuda	Joey	Sr.	RHP	Eckerd	Sunshine St
Glisson	Christian	Sr.	DH	Valdosta State	Gulf South
Mitchell	Colton	Jr.	LHP	Delta State	Gulf South
Regoli	Areo	Sr	OF	Nova Southeastern	Sunshine St
Schmidt	Michael	Jr.	2B	North Alabama	Gulf South
SOUTH CENTRAL REGION
Last Name	First Name	Yr	Pos	School	Conference
Neumann	Lee	Jr.	OF	Angelo State	Lone Star
Johnson	Stephen	Jr.	RHP	St. Edward's	Heartland
Perez	Jonathan	Jr.	RHP	St. Mary's	Heartland
Rycroft	Austin	Sr.	OF	Central Oklahoma	Independent
Solis	Rene	So.	LHP	St. Mary's	Heartland
Stoppelman	Lee	Sr.	LHP	Central Missouri	MIAA
Thomas	Justin	Jr	LHP	Southern Arkansas	Great American Conference
SOUTHEAST REGION
Last Name	First Name	Yr	Pos	School	Conference
Allison	Casey	Sr.	OF	Wingate	South Atlantic
Carmon	Stephen	Sr.	SS	USC Aiken	Peach Belt
Goodman	Craig	Sr.	RHP	Tusculum	South Atlantic
Jordan	Spencer	Jr.	RHP	Francis Marion	Peach Belt
Koeneman	Kyle	Sr.	1B	Carson-Newman	South Atlantic
Pate	Coty	Sr.	1B	Mars Hill	South Atlantic
Rogers	Jacob	Sr.	1B	Mount Olive	Conf Carolinas
Taylor	Zach	Jr.	OF	Armstrong Atlantic State	Peach Belt
WEST REGION
Last Name	First Name	Yr	Pos	School	Conference
Broussard	Geoff	Sr.	RHP	Cal Poly Pomona	Calf Collegiate
Duran	Daniel	Sr.	3B	Cal St Los Angeles	Calf Collegiate
Folkinga	Bo	Sr.	1B	Western Oregon	Great Northwest
Odom	Kevin	Sr.	2B	Cal Baptist	Pacific West
Susdorf	Danny	Jr.	OF	UC San Diego	Calf Collegiate
Wood	Grady	Sr.	RHP	Western Oregon	Great Northwest