Tony Roth, Matt Buckingham Named Freshman All-Americans
6/5/2002 7:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 5, 2002
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OMAHA, Neb. - A pair of Creighton University baseball standouts, Tony Roth and Matt Buckingham, have been named to the Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American baseball team. Roth was a first-team selection while Buckingham earned honorable-mention laurels. The squad is selected by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and was released earlier today.
Roth is the first Bluejay to be named to the first-team Freshman All-American squad since Scott Yarhaus in 1999 . He was the lone MVC representative or Nebraska native on the first-team. Buckingham was one of nine MVC representatives to earn honorable-mention recognition. Along with Steve Grasley (2001) and Yarhaus (1999), CU has now had four freshman All-Americans in the last four years and seven in nine seasons under 2002 MVC Coach of the Year Jack Dahm.
Roth, an Omaha native and graduate of Westside HS, appeared in all 54 games as CU's regular first baseman during a rookie campaign in which he was named MVC Freshman of the Year. Roth, also named an all-MVC honorable-mention pick, batted .310 with 14 doubles and 30 RBI. He led CU in walks, hit-by-pitch and on-base percentage while placing third in batting average.
"I'm very honored," said Roth. "It's something that I never even thought about. It's not in your mind to be an All-American. I'm happy and want to thank my teammates and coaches for making it possible."
I think it's a great honor for Tony and it's very well deserved," said Dahm. "To be named Freshman of the Year in the Missouri Valley Conference and First-Team All-American is a great honor that he deserves. He was a very consistent player for us all year while playing out of position and that's a great compliment for Tony and our program to get that award."
Buckingham, a Libertyville, Ill. native and graduate of Carmel HS, was 4-1 with a 3.64 ERA during an injury-shortened freshman campaign. Buckingham picked up CU's first win of the year, vs. Michigan State, in his debut and also picked up victories vs. #12 Notre Dame, Southern Illinois and Evansville. He had emerged as CU's #2 starter before leaving an April 20 start vs. Wichita State complaining of elbow tightness. That tightness was later diagnosed as a torn medial collateral ligament, and he underwent "Tommy John" surgery on May 21 in Alabama at the hands of noted sports orthopedist James Andrews.
"It's great to see Matt recognized after he had such a promising start to his freshman season," said Dahm. "We look forward to him regaining his health and returning to our rotation in the future."
Creighton finished the 2002 season with a 30-24 record and placed second in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 21-10 mark.
Player AVG GP-GS AB R H RBI 2B 3B HR TB SLG% BB HBP SO OB%Roth, 2002 .310 54-52 187 46 58 30 14 1 4 86 .460 31 15 37 .444Player ERA W-L APP GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER BB SO WP HBPBuckingham, 2002 3.64 4-1 9 7 1 0 0 42.0 42 18 17 10 30 0 3
Creighton's Freshmen All-Americans under Jack DahmName Year TeamChad Meyers 1994 1stDrue Council 1995 HMBrian Smith 1996 HMScott Yarhaus 1999 1stSteve Grasley 2001 HMTony Roth 2002 1stMatt Buckingham 2002 HM
