Tulane junior first baseman Michael Aubrey has been named Conference USA Player of the Year, while TCU junior righthander Clayton Jerome was selected as the league’s Pitcher of the Year, as announced Tuesday in New Orleans, site of the 2003 C-USA Baseball Tournament.

After leading his Golden Eagles squad to 41 wins and their first-ever Conference USA championship, Southern Miss skipper Corky Palmer was named the Keith LeClair Coach of the Year. Freshman of the Year honors went to Tulane lefthander J.R. Crowel. Voting was done by a panel consisting of each head coach, each team’s sports information director and a media representative from each city.

Aubrey leads Conference USA with a .433 batting average, and he also tops the circuit in hits (93), RBI (76) and on-base percentage (.517). He has 16 home runs, which is tied for third and his .744 slugging percentage ranks second. Aubrey notched 30 multiple hit games and 22 multiple RBI contests and earned National Hitter of the Week honors on March 24. Aubrey is one of five finalists for the Golden Spikes Award and he is also a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and the Smith Award, all honors given to college baseball’s top player. This marks the fifth straight season that a Tulane player has earned Player of the Year honors (James Jurries last season, Jake Gautreau in 2000 and 2001 and Chad Sutter in 1999).

Jerome is the first TCU player ever to earn Conference Pitcher of the Year honors. This season, he is 9-3 with a 2.13 ERA in 15 starts. Jerome has thrown a conference-high five complete games and has 101 strikeouts (third in C-USA) with just 21 walks in 105 innings. Opponents are batting just .209 against him (fifth-lowest in the league) and three times this season Jerome was named Conference USA Pitcher of the Week.

Palmer was named Keith LeClair Coach of the Year after leading the Golden Eagles to a wire-to-wire first place finish. Coming off a fourth place finish in 2002, Southern Miss set a new Conference USA record with 23 league wins this spring, breaking the school record for regular season wins with 41. The Golden Eagles were ranked as high as No. 17 in last week’s national polls, the highest ranking in school history. Palmer, who was twice named NJCAA Division I Diamond Sports/ABCA National Coach of the Year, was a four time Region 23 Coach of the Year at Meridian (Miss.) C.C. He has 206 victories at the helm of the Golden Eagles and has won 615 games a collegiate head coach.

Crowell is the first true pitcher to earn the league’s Freshman of the Year award since Houston’s Shane Nance in 1997. In 15 appearances, he posted a 7-0 record with a 3.24 ERA and complete game wins over Houston and Saint Louis. Crowel struck out a team-high 65 batters and walked 28. He limited opponents to one or fewer runs on five occasions.

Regular season champion Southern Miss, runner-up TCU and South Florida placed a league-high four representatives on the two All-Conference teams, with TCU earning the most first team selections with three. Houston and Tulane each had three total selections, while Charlotte, East Carolina, Louisville, Memphis and UAB had one each.


PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Michael Aubrey, Tulane

PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Clayton Jerome, TCU

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR
J.R. Crowel, Tulane

KEITH LeCLAIR COACH OF THE YEAR
Corky Palmer, Southern Miss


FIRST TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
IF Michael Aubrey Tulane
IF Hyung Cho Houston
IF Tony Giarratano Tulane
IF Mike Settle TCU
OF Jeff Cook Southern Miss
OF Jonny Kaplan Tulane
OF Clint King Southern Miss
C Devin Ivany South Florida
DH Chris Neuman TCU
P Clayton Jerome TCU
P Brad Sullivan Houston

SECOND TEAM ALL-CONFERENCE
IF Jeff Baisley South Florida
IF Darryl Lawhorn East Carolina
IF Myron Leslie South Florida
IF George Sandel Charlotte
OF Josh Bolen Louisville
OF Jake Duncan TCU
OF Kyle Leon UAB
C Brad Willcutt Southern Miss
DH Ryan Martin Memphis
P David Austen South Florida
P Bob McCrory Southern Miss
P Ryan Wagner Houston


ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM
Brian Bogusevic, OF/P, Tulane
J.R. Crowel, LHP, Tulane
Matt Farrington, OF, Houston
Stephen Gostkowski, RHP, Memphis
Nick Haley, 2B, Louisville
Marc Maddox, 1B, Southern Miss
Mark Minicozzi, 3B, East Carolina
Billy Mohl, RHP, Tulane
Jake Smith, C, East Carolina
Travis Tully, OF, Houston
Boomer Whiting, IF, Louisville