FURBUSH NAMED THIRD-TEAM PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN

BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU pitcher Charlie Furbush has been named a third-team preseason all-American by Baseball America magazine. Other Southeastern Conference pitchers earning recognition from Baseball America included Josh Fields of Georgia and David Price of Vanderbilt (first team), Nick Schmidt of Arkansas (second team) and Bryan Augenstein of Florida (third team). Furbush, a junior left-hander from South Portland, Maine, transferred to LSU in August from Saint Josephs College of Maine, where he was named the 2006 North Atlantic Conference Player of the Year. Furbush posted a 10-1 mark and a 2.89 ERA in 74.2 innings with 22 walks and 115 strikeouts, and he was also voted the NCAA Division III New England Pitcher of the Year. The 6-4, 204-pound southpaw pitched brilliantly last summer in the Cape Cod League, a wooden-bat league featuring the nations best collegiate players. He was honored with the leagues John Claffey New England Top Prospect Award after recording a 3-2 mark with a 1.83 ERA for the Hyannis Mets. Furbush worked 54 innings for Hyannis, recording 13 walks and 50 strikeouts. He fired a no-hitter with 12 strikeouts to defeat the Bourne Braves, and he worked 8.1 innings in a win over the top team in the league, the Cotuit Kettleers. Furbush and his LSU teammates will participate in their first full-squad preseason practice at 2:30 p.m. Thursday in Alex Box Stadium. The Tigers begin the 2007 season at 7 p.m. on Friday, February 9 versus Saint Marys (Calif.) in Alex Box Stadium.