News Taffy

SEARCY – Harding baseball players Chase Presley and Billy Ninemire are included among over 130 NCAA Division II players on the 2012 Tino Martinez Award Watch List.

The Tino Martinez Award goes to the most outstanding player in Division II college baseball and is named after former University of Tampa Spartan, Olympian and MLB All-Star Tino Martinez.

The list will be updated with a mid-season release in mid-April. Semifinalists are scheduled to be announced on May 7 with the finalists to be named on May 21.

After the finalists are named, fans will be invited to vote online at tinoaward.com to help determine the winner. The winner will be announced after the conclusion of the DII Baseball Championship in Cary, N.C., in June.

Presley, a senior from Jackson, Tenn., hit .335 last season and set Harding single-season records for runs (64) and doubles (22). Ninemire, a junior from Salem, Ark., hit .375 with a team-leading 78 hits. Both players were named Preseason All-Region by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.

Harding opens the 2012 season Saturday with a noon doubleheader against Maryville University.

by Scott Goode