Costanzo Named First Team All-American by the NCBWA
6/15/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Coastal Carolina University baseball player Mike Costanzo (Springfield, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) has been named to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) All-America First Team, the organization announced June 14. Costanzo earned first team honors as a utility player.
Costanzo has now been named a first team all-American by the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. He led Coastal in batting average (.379), hits (91), runs (74), home runs (16), slugging percentage (.658), on-base percentage (.525) and walks (68). He also led the Big South in batting average, runs scored, on-base percentage and walks. Costanzo was named the Big South Player of the Year for the second straight season and became the first player in Big South history to earn the honor in back-to-back seasons. He also earned first team all-conference honors as both a pitcher and a first baseman, the first player to earn that honor in the Big South. The junior was named to the Big South All-Tournament team for his performance May 25-28. Costanzo had a 20-game hitting streak from April 8-May 13 and was named the Pro Line Cap National Player of the Week April 19 after going 6-for-8 with three home runs and seven RBI in a three-game series against Birmingham-Southern. On the mound, Costanzo was 8-1 with a 2.13 earned run average and led the Big South and set the school single-season record with 14 saves. He gave up only 13 earned runs all season and did not give up his first earned run until April 10. Costanzo was selected in the second round of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies. He also was named by USA Today Sports Weekly as a second team all-American. Costanzo was on the watch list for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year, the Golden Spikes Award, the Brooks Wallace Award and is one of 16 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy.
Coastal ended its season with a 50-16 record, the first 50-win season in Big South history. The Chanticleers were the top seed in the NCAA Tempe Regional and fell to Arizona State University in the first championship game 9-5.
NCBWA Division I All-America First Team
1B Matt LaPorta, Florida
2B Corey Wimberley, Alcorn State
3B Alex Gordon, Nebraska
SS Tyler Greene, Georgia Tech
C Brad Willcutt, Southern Miss
OF Shane Robinson, Florida State
OF Ryan Patterson, LSU
OF Brian Pettway, Ole Miss
OF Jacoby Ellsbury, Oregon State
UT Mike Costanzo, Coastal Carolina
SP Lance Broadway, TCU
SP Cesar Carrillo, Miami
SP Luke Hochevar, Tennessee
SP Mike Pelfrey, Wichita State
SP Ian Kennedy, USC
RP J. Brent Cox, Texas
RP Steve Kleen, Pepperdine
RP Erik Morrison, Ball State
