Four Bama Players Make All-SEC Baseball Teams
5/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
HOOVER, Ala. -- University of Alabama senior center fielder Emeel Salem (Mountain Brook) headlines a list of four Crimson Tide players who received post-season accolades today for the 2007 season.
Salem was a unanimous First-Team All-SEC selection for the second year in a row. He was also named the 2007 SEC Scholar Athlete of the Year for the second straight year. Sophomore DH Alex Avila (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) was named Second-Team All-SEC by the SEC head coaches on Tuesday.
SEBaseball.com also handed out its post-season awards Tuesday with Salem earning First-Team All-SEC honors and sophomore right-hander Tommy Hunter (Indianapolis, Ind.) earning Second-Team All-SEC honors. Avila and junior first baseman Matt Bentley (Hazel Green) were Honorable Mention All-SEC picks by SEBaseball.com.
Salem was a unanimous First-Team All-SEC selection for the second straight year. As a senior, he batted .363 (81-for-223) this season with seven home runs and 32 RBI. He also hit .360 in SEC play, to rank ninth in the league in hitting. He joins Vanderbilt left-hander David Price and outfielder Dominic de la Osa as the only three unanimous selections on this year's All-SEC squad. Salem was the only unanimous selection on the 2006 All-SEC Team.
For the second straight year, Salem was also named the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. He carries a 3.85 grade point average with a double major in Marketing and Spanish. He was the 2007 recipient of the H. Boyd McWhorter SEC Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and a $10,000 post-graduate scholarship. He was also named to the ESPN the Magazine CoSIDA District IV Academic Team.
Avila hit .296 (64-for-216) with a team-leading 13 home runs and 60 RBI this season. He clubbed 10 home runs in SEC play to become the first UA player with double-figure SEC home runs since Beau Hearod in 2003. Avila homered in six of the 10 SEC series in 2007. He closed the year with 24 RBI in his last 11 games, an average of 2.18 per game.
Hunter posted a 7-4 record with five saves and a 3.49 ERA. In his dual role as starter and reliever, Hunter ranked among the SEC leaders in appearances, innings pitched, wins, saves and strikeouts. He worked 100 1/3 innings this season, marking the second straight year he has thrown 100 or more innings.
Bentley hit .303 (57-for-188) with a career-high 12 home runs and 36 RBI. He hit nine home runs in SEC play and homered in seven of the 10 SEC series. Bentley also led the league in total chances and putouts in SEC play.
