University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldog Tommy Houmard on Brooks Wallace Award Watch List
05.18.2015 | Baseball
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – UNC Asheville senior baseball player Tommy Houmard is one of the 25 best shortstops in the country, according to College Baseball Hall of Fame and the Brooks Wallace Award committee.
The award, sponsored by Mizuno, recognizes the nation's top shortstop and will be presented during the National College Baseball Hall of Fame's Night of Champions on June 29 in Lubbock, Texas.
Houmard was one of nearly 100 shortstops from across the country on the award's initial 'Watch List' that was released in late April, and his play continued to improve throughout the remainder of the year for the Bulldogs, landing him on the latest updated listing of 25 shortstops.
“We look at a variety of criteria when trying to narrow down the watch list,” said Larry Wallace, award co-chair. “Fielding percentage is obviously important but we also look at batting average and other statistics to determine each player's value to his team.”
Heading into Asheville's final weekend series against Radford, Houmard had the highest batting average (.373) of the remaining shortstops on the list.
Following his final three games as a Bulldog, Houmard's final 2015 batting average sits at .361, as the senior started and played in all 55 Asheville games this season. He tallied 100 total bases, 30 RBI, eight doubles, four triples and two home runs while scoring 44 runs.
Defensively, he tallied a .962 fielding percentage with just 11 errors in 192 attempts and was a vital part of one of the best double play-turning teams in the country.
Houmard and Asheville finish their season tied for the fifth-most double plays in the country, as of May 17, with 57 total double plays. They also are No. 18 nationally in double plays per game, averaging 1.04 double plays turned per contest.
Individually, Houmard finished his senior campaign third overall in the Big South Conference with a .361 overall batting average, and finished the year with the top average in conference play, boasting a .435 average as well as the best on-base percentage (.505) in league play.
He finished with 22 multi-hit games in 2015, seven multi-RBI games and two separate 21-game reached-base streaks to end his career in the Blue and White.
