Dec. 5, 2008
LUBBOCK, TX – Senior Justin Toole was named to on the 2009 Pre-Season Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Watch List. The Wallace Award is presented annually to the nation’s top collegiate baseball player in conjunction with the College Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. Seven other Big Ten players were listed on the “Wallace Watch.”
Toole, a shortstop from Council Bluffs, IA, was honored on the all-region second team and all-Big Ten third team last season. He hit .395, including a .390 clip in conference play. He was ranked in the top ten in nine statistical areas, including second in hits (87) and runs (61). The junior made his way into the school record book this season recording 25 consecutive games with a hit this season. The streak was the longest in the Big Ten and seventh-longest in the country this season. He also is second in Iowa single-season hits with 87, only four shy of the record.
“Justin is very deserving of being named to the Brooks Wallace Player of the Year Watch List after the previous two years he has had for our program,” Head Coach Jack Dahm said. “He has worked incredibly hard in every phase of the game to become the player he is today. The best thing about Justin is that he is a very unselfish player and his team’s success is more important than his personal success.”