Tulane senior second baseman James Jurries was named the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) District VII Co-Player of the Year by the organization on Friday. He shares the honor with Texas sophomore LHP Justin Simmons. It is the second straight year that a Green Wave player that has earned NCBWA District VII Player of the Year, as Jake Gautreau earned the honor last season.

Voting for the awards was done by the membership of the NCBWA, featuring writers, broadcasters and publicists of college baseball. The District VII area includes all Division I players in the states of Arkansas, Louisiana and Texas.

Jurries, the 2002 Conference USA Player of the Year, earned the distinction after hitting .400 with 20 home runs and 30 stolen bases. He also led the team with 77 runs scored, 96 hits, four triples, 74 RBI, 180 total bases, a .750 slugging percentage, a .493 on-base percentage and 43 walks while tallying 16 doubles.

He led the team with 30 multiple-hit games, including a five-hit showing at Pepperdine (Feb. 10), and with 21 multiple-RBI contests, including five-RBI outings vs. Charlotte (March 17), vs. TCU (April 20) and at South Florida (May 12). Jurries hit two home runs in five different games in 2002 and was named Conference USA Player of the Week on May 13 after hitting .636 (7-for-11) with a 1.273 slugging percentage on the strength of a double and two home runs during a three-game series at South Florida.

During his final collegiate season, Jurries helped the Green Wave earn their fourth consecutive trip to the NCAA Regionals while becoming Tulane’s first .400 hitter since 1985. He is also the first Tulane player to hit 20 homers and steal 30 bases in the same season. His 96 hits in 2002 is tied for sixth in the Green Wave’s single-season record book, and he is also third in total bases and slugging percentage, tied for fourth in batting average, seventh in stolen bases, eighth in runs scored and tied for eighth in triples.

In Tulane’s career record book, Jurries tied the all-time runs record (284) while finishing second in hits (344) and home runs (62), fourth in games played (239), at-bats (953), RBI (257) and doubles (66), tied for fourth in triples (11), fifth in stolen bases (80), tied for fifth in batting average (.361), sixth in slugging percentage (.648), tied for sixth in assists (430), seventh in walks (145) and tied for seventh in sacrifice flies (13).

Jurries will continue his baseball career in the Atlanta Braves organization. The Braves selected the infielder in the sixth round of the June major league draft on Tuesday.