Braun, Sanchez Freshman All-Americans

Two Miami Hurricanes baseball players, shortstop Ryan Braun and third baseman Gaby Sanchez, have been named to the 2003 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-America Team as chosen by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.

Braun, a true freshman from Granada Hills, Calif. (Granada Hills HS), is hitting .376 on the season, recently was named the team's Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year. The team's home run champion with 15, Braun broke current Philadelphia Phillies Pat Burrell's freshman RBI record (he currently has 66) and earned National Player of the Week honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association for his performance against Georgia Tech the weekend of March 27-29. In last weekend's NCAA Tournament action, Braun went 10-for-17 with four RBIs, three doubles, a triple and one home run in the Coral Gables Regional, earning a spot on the All-Regional team for his performance.

Sanchez, a freshman from Brito Private School in Miami, has a .326 batting average and 53 RBIs (2nd on the team). Sanchez's 19 doubles lead the team and he has hit six home runs. He ranks second on the team with the team with 73 hits and has produced 18 multiple-RBI games. Against Pace College on May 2, he became the first Hurricane to hit for the cycle since Dave Berg in 1993 when he had a career-high five hits and six RBIs, including a grand slam. In last weekend's NCAA Tournament action, Sanchez went 6-for-18 with three RBIs in the Coral Gables Regional. Sanchez went 5-for-10 with three RBIs in a pair of games against Florida in the championship round of the Regional.