St. John's star is one of three final candidates for major award

The College Baseball Hall of Fame has announced that first round draft pick, second team Baseball America All-American, third team Louisville Slugger All-American and first team All-BIG EAST honoree Joe Panik has been selected as one of three finalists for the Brooks Wallace Award, presented to the nation's top shortstop.

Panik is joined on the ballot of finalists by Brandon Loy (Texas) and Brad Miller (Clemson). 

"It is an outstanding honor just to be considered for the Brooks Wallace Award, let alone to be included as one of the three finalists," said Panik. 

Selected 29th overall by the San Francisco Giants, Panik set new career-highs as a junior this past season in batting average (.398), hits (90), doubles (19), home runs (10), RBI (57), slugging percentage (.642), on-base percentage (.509) and stolen bases (21).  En route to earning first team All-BIG EAST honors, the shortstop finished the regular season ranked in the top ten in the BIG EAST in average (tied for first), on-base percentage (first), slugging percentage (second), runs (tied for second), RBI (fourth), home runs (tied for fifth), doubles (tied for seventh) and stolen bases (eighth). 

"The votes for this year's Wallace Award have never been as close as they were this year," said Tyler Young, co-chair of the Brooks Wallace Award. "The three finalists were all within a handful of votes, and that's simply never happened before." 

Presented by Mizuno, the winner of the Brooks Wallace Award will be named on July 3 in Lubbock, Texas, as part of College Baseball's Night of Champions. The event also features the announcement of winners of the National Pitcher of the Year and John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year.

The Johnny Bench Award and the Dick Howser Trophy, presented to the national player of the year, are also presented at the event.  The Brooks Wallace Award is a dedication to the memory of the former Texas Tech player and assistant coach. A slick-fielding shortstop and a four-year starter (1977-80), Wallace earned All-Southwest Conference and All-District VII honors as a senior and led the Red Raiders to their first appearance in the Southwest Conference Tournament.

After spending two years in the Texas Rangers organization, Wallace returned to Texas Tech to serve as a graduate assistant and later as an assistant coach. He was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 1984 and fought the disease courageously until his death on March 24, 1985, at the age of 27.           

The Award, first presented in 2004, originally honored the national player of the year, but was transitioned to honor the nation's top shortstop in 2009. Previous winners include: Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia, 2010), Ben Orloff (UC Irvine, 2009), Buster Posey (Florida State, 2008), David Price (Vanderbilt, 2007), Brad Lincoln (Houston, 2006), Alex Gordon (Nebraska, 2005) and Kurt Suzuki (Cal State Fullerton, 2004).