The first set of 2006 All-American honor rolls was released by the College Baseball Foundation and A-Sun Pitcher of the Year Matt Dobbins of Jacksonville and first team All-Atlantic Sun 1B Chris Johnson earned the honors.
A position player last season, Dobbins has emerged as the ace of the Dolphins' staff and one of the top pitchers in the nation in 2006. After earning a no-decision against Georgia Southern on Feb. 7, he won eight consecutive games before having his streak snapped with a no-decision against North Florida on April 7. During his streak, Dobbins went 8-0 with a 1.46 ERA, 31 strikeouts and a .247 opponent batting average in 55.2 innings of work. He has currently won his past three starts to become the first Dolphin to win 10 games in a season since Dennis Robinson in 2004. Dobbins, a sociology major, also earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District III First Team honors last week after tallying a 3.74 grade point average.
Entering NCAA Regional play Johnson is batting .371 with 11 home runs and an A-Sun-best 64 RBI while playing in all 60 games for the Hatters (38-22). He also ranks among the league leaders in hits (88), walks (30), total bases (139), and slugging pct. (.586). The 2006 first-team all-conference and all-tournament team selection terrorized league opponents, batting .455 with nine homers and 44 RBI in 30 A-Sun games. Overall he has hit safely in 47 of his 60 contests and has collected 27 multi-hit games.
Last year, Johnson was named a Freshman All-American by Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America.
Both the Hatters and Dolphins begin NCAA Regional play on June 2.
