July 07, 2008
COLLEGE STATION, Texas- Three members of the Big 12 Champion Texas A&M baseball team have earned All-America accolades upon completion of the 2008 season.
Junior shortstop Jose Duran (Fort Worth, Texas) was selected to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association All-America third team. Named the Big 12 Player and Newcomer of the Year, Duran finished the season with a team-best .372 batting average to go along with six home runs and 68 RBI. The Fort Worth native collected 103 hits in 2008, ranking him third all-time on the single-season chart and becoming only the fourth player in school history to total 100 hits in a season. The 46th All-American in program history, Duran was selected in the sixth round of the MLB draft by Milwaukee and is currently playing for the Helena Brewers of the Pioneer League.
Also earning recognition were freshmen Brooks Raley and Barret Loux, who were named to the rivals.com Freshman All-America second team.
Raley (Uvalde, Texas) was the Aggies’ Friday night starter for virtually the entire season, compiling a 7-2 record and 4.76 ERA in 18 appearances. He threw a team-best 92 2/3 innings on the year, fanning 68 batters and holding opposing batters to a .271 clip. Selected to the squad as a utility player, Raley also recorded 58 at-bats on the year?-hitting .259 with nine runs driven in.
Loux (Houston, Texas) made a team-high 16 starts as true freshman in 2008, compiling a 6-2 mark and a 4.18 ERA. He fanned a team-best 81 batters in 90 1/3 innings of work, holding opponents to a .227 batting average on the year.
Texas A&M finished the season with a 46-19 overall record after capturing the school’s third Big 12 regular-season championship and the first back-to-back regional titles in school history. The Aggies conclude the campaign with a final No. 10 national ranking, marking the program’s first top-10 finish since the 1999 season.