Costanzo Named First Team All-American by Baseball America
6/16/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Coastal Carolina University baseball player Mike Costanzo (Springfield, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) has been named to Baseball America’s All-American First Team, the magazine announced June 16. Costanzo earned first team honors as a utility player.
Costanzo has now been named a first team all-American by Baseball America, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (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 and was a midseason All-American by Baseball America. Costanzo was on the watch list for the NCBWA Stopper of the Year, the Golden Spikes Award, the Brooks Wallace Award and was a semifinalist 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.
Baseball America All-American First Team
C Jeff Clement, Southern California
1B Matt LaPorta, Florida
2B Jim Negrych, Pittsburgh
3B Alex Gordon, Nebraska
SS Tyler Greene, Georgia Tech
OF Trevor Crowe, Arizona
OF Jacoby Ellsbury, Oregon State
OF Shane Robinson, Florida State
DH Ryan Braun, Miami
UT Mike Costanzo, Coastal Carolina
SP Lance Broadway, TCU
SP Dallas Buck, Oregon State
SP Luke Hochevar, Tennessee
SP Ian Kennedy, Southern California
RP Craig Hansen, St. John’s
