May 30, 2003
ARLINGTON, Texas... Ryan Roberts, a third baseman on The University of Texas at Arlington's baseball team, was named to the Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-American second team by Louisville Slugger and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. The team was chosen by the Collegiate Baseball staff and announced Friday.
Roberts, a senior from Bedford, hit .422 with 16 home runs and 69 runs batted in during the 2003 season. He led the Southland Conference in home runs, RBI, slugging percentage (.765), on base percentage (.514), runs scored (69), hits (97), total bases (176) and bases on balls (42) this past season, while finishing second in batting average, which is currently the ninth best average nationally.
The award marks the second time this season that Louisville Slugger and Collegiate Baseball have honored Roberts. Earlier in the spring, Roberts was named Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball National Hitter of the Week. Earlier this month, the Southland Conference honored Roberts as its Player of the Year and Hitter of the Year.
The L.D. Bell High School graduate leaves UTA with his name plastered all over the Maverick record book. In 2003, Roberts set UTA single season records in runs scored, hits, extra base hits (42), total bases, RBI and slugging percentage. Roberts' .422 batting average was the second best one-year mark by a UTA player, behind only Trey Hillman's .442 batting average in 1985. The Eastfield Junior College transfer's 16 home runs tied Matt Mize's total in 1998 for the second best single season output by a Maverick, following only Kyle Heine's 19 home runs in 1998; and his 21 doubles in 2003 would have tied the record that he already held a part of, but teammate Kasey Baker had 22 doubles this season.
In just two years in Arlington, Roberts established himself as one of the school's greatest offensive players. Roberts finished his two-year career at UTA with a .393 lifetime batting average, UTA's top all-time mark. He also finds himself third on the school's all-time home run list with 26 career round trippers, and tied with Hillman for fifth on the career RBI list with 129.
Roberts was the only SLC player to be named to one of the three Louisville Slugger/Collegiate Baseball All-America teams. Southern University second baseman Rickie Weeks was named National Player of the Year.
Roberts is the second player in school history to earn All-American honors. Pitcher Jason Watkins was an American Baseball Coaches' Association All-American in 1992. In addition, outfielder Clay Gould, who went on to serve as UTA's head coach in 2000 and 2001, was a Golden Spikes Award nominee in 1993.
