June 24, 2005

BEAUMONT - Lamar's Michael Ambort was named to the 2005 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-America second team.

The 285 NCAA Division I schools are divided into eight regions. The South Central Region encompasses 35 schools from the Southland, Sun Belt, Conference USA and Southwestern Athletic conferences, plus independents Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Texas-Pan American. The first team recipients from the eight regions are nominated for All-America honors.

Ambort earned first team ABCA All-South Central Regional team at catcher, which is voted on by the region's head coaches. He was named third team All-America by Baseball America last week. He was one of 36 players invited to the USA Baseball National Team Trials, which starts on Monday.

Ambort, who was named SLC Hitter of the Year and first-team All-SLC, led the Cardinals in hitting with a .336 batting average. He also led the team in runs scored (57), home runs (18), runs batted in (65) and slugging percentage (.654). He was second on the team in hits (73), doubles (15) and on-base percentage (.414).

A native of Rockville Center, N.Y., Ambort also ranked first in the SLC in home runs, runs scored, RBI, total bases (142) and slugging percentage. He led the team with 26 multiple hit games, including four 3-hit games, and 15 multiple RBI games, including three 3-RBI games and four 4-RBI games. He set season highs of four hits at Texas A&M, two home runs against Northwestern State and seven RBI against Northwestern State.

Ambort's 18 home runs, two of which were grand slams, set a new Lamar single-season record for home runs, surpassing the old mark of 16 shared by Beau Allred (1987) and Jason Klam (1996). His 142 total bases tied for the sixth-best single-season total and his 65 RBI tied for seventh.

Fellow SLC players joining Ambort on the ABCA All-South Central Region team were outfielder Bubba Bell of Nicholls State and pitcher Matt Green of Louisiana-Monroe. Green also earned third team ABCA All-America honors.

2005 American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-South Central Region First Team
1B - Geoff Desmond, Arkansas State
2B - Brett Kinning, Arkansas State
SS - Josh Rodriguez, Rice
3B - Dallas Morris, UL-Lafayette
OF - John Coker, UL-Lafayette
OF - Bubba Bell, Nicholls State
OF - Chuck Carter, TAMU-Corpus Christi
OF - Yahmed Yema, Florida International
C - Michael Ambort, Lamar University
DH - Todd Martin, Middle Tennessee State
P - Matt Green, UL-Monroe
P - David Asher, Florida International
P - Austin Faught, UL-Lafayette

RP - Justin Vaclavik, Houston