Dallas Buck	Ian Kennedy	Max Scherzer

2006 Clemens Award Watch List

HOUSTON: Three hurlers who were honored as semifinalists for the Roger Clemens Award as sophomores in 2005 highlight the list of 40 college pitchers who have been named to the initial Watch List for the 2006 Roger Clemens Award, which honors the top pitcher in college baseball.

Righthanders Dallas Buck of Oregon State, Ian Kennedy of Southern California and Max Scherzer of Missouri will all be looking to build upon their status as semifinalists for the Clemens Award. They are joined on the initial Watch list by North Carolina's Adam Miller, Baseball America's Summer League Player of the Year, and three pitchers (Adrian Alaniz, Kyle McCulloch and Kenn Kasparek ) who led the Longhorns to the 2005 College World Series championship.

The list is comprised of all Division I pitchers who were named as pre-season All-Americans by either Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball or the National College Baseball Writers Association. Additional pitchers will be added each week when honored as National Pitchers of the Week by the NCBW and after the NCAA releases its statistical rankings during the college baseball season.

Texas is one of three schools who have placed three pitchers on the initial Watch List. Both Oregon State (Buck, Kevin Gunderson and Jonah Nickerson) and Nebraska (Joba Chamberlain, Johnny Dorn and Brett Jensen) are the others. The Pac 10 leads conferences with eight pitchers, followed by the Big XII and ACC with seven each.

The Roger Clemens Award was named after future Hall of Famer Roger Clemens, who began his march to stardom while leading the University of Texas to the College World Series title in 1983. As a professional, Clemens has won 341 games (9th best in history), fanned 4,502 hitters and won and seven Cy Young Awards, emblematic as the top pitcher in his league. The Roger Clemens Award is the only award of its kind, honoring the finest pitchers in college baseball.

The third Clemens Award will be presented to the nation's top college pitcher at the conclusion of a gala dinner in Houston in July. All Division I head baseball coaches will take part in the voting for the honor, in addition to a selected panel of national media and all past winners of the Rotary Smith Award, which was retired after the 2003 dinner by the committee that is sponsoring the Clemens Award.

The event is administered by the Greater Houston Baseball Association, who has donated $200,000 to the designated beneficiaries (The Roger Clemens Foundation, The Karl Young Summer College Baseball League and Baseball USA) from the net proceeds from the first two dinners. The GHBA is a non-profit 501.3 (C) organization dedicated to the growth of amateur baseball in the Houston area.

Tickets for the 2006 Roger Clemens Award are now on sale. For more information, please call the Greater Houston Baseball Association at (713) 739-0505 or write to The Roger Clemens Award, 2550 S. Sam Houston Parkway West, Houston, TX 77047.

For media information on The Roger Clemens Award, please contact Chuck Pool (832) 244-6476 or at info@clemensaward.com