Round Top Tx

Jungmann named national player of the year as Horns look to 2012 without him

Jungmann, the ace of the Texas Longhorns' pitching staff, was the recipient of the Dick Howser Trophy, an award presented annually to the player of the year in college baseball.

As he stood at a podium at TD Ameritrade Park during a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the award, with former winners Robin Ventura and Mike Fiore in the room, Jungmann's voice cracked.

"My name, with all those guys, I don't even know what to say. It's a little surreal," Jungmann said.

The junior right-hander, who was drafted 12th overall by the Milwaukee Brewers on June 7, finished 13-3 with a 1.60 ERA this season. He began the year 13-0 and was 13-2 when the final votes were submitted by members of the National Baseball Writers Association after the NCAA super regionals. He lost Texas' opening game of the College World Series.

"The award's awesome, but I wanted (to succeed at the CWS) for my teammates," Jungmann said.

Jungmann is not expected to return to the Longhorns. Coach Augie Garrido is expected to lose his other top starting pitchers as well; No. 2 starter Cole Green is a senior, and the No. 3, junior Sam Stafford, was a second-round pick of the New York Yankees.

Indeed, pitchers who accounted for 33 of Texas' 48 victories this season are likely to be gone, leaving Garrido and pitching coach Skip Johnson with a need to rebuild.

Two top candidates to step into the rotation are current sophomore Hoby Milner (7-4, 2.45 ERA) and freshman Nathan Thornhill (3-0, 1.89), who combined for 11 starts this season, nine by Milner.

Other possible starters are freshman Kirby Bellow, sophomore Josh Urban and junior Austin Dicharry, if the latter recovers the arm strength he had before an injury.

Bellow, a left-hander, caught Jungmann's eye during fall workouts, but he pitched just 11 innings this season with a 5.73 ERA.

"If you watched him in the fall, he was as good as anybody we had," Jungmann said.

Freshman Corey Knebel, the Longhorns' closer and a Howser semifinalist, is capable of starting. But Knebel likes his current job .

Garrido signed some pitchers who could help, including John Curtiss from Southlake, Ricky Jacquez from El Paso and Dillon Peters from Indianapolis.

Garrido also has some restoration ahead of him at other positions. First baseman Tant Shepherd, the Longhorns' third-leading hitter (.303), is a senior. Junior shortstop Brandon Loy (.342), a fifth-round draft pick of Detroit, is a good bet to leave.

Learning to Love the Silence in Round Top » Amanda Megan Miller ...

! So very crazy good! But crazy. Getting engaged and planning my own wedding!!! Traveling every other week it seems (which I LOVE, but can really burn you out). Buying our first house(!) and packing everything we own in a very short time frame. Finishing graduate school and going full time with photography! And most notably for the blog, participating in some totally amazing workshops and seminars. The most life-altering of which took place in a little town called Round Top, about an hour outside of Austin.

A little background on Round Top, Texas. It is the smallest town in Texas, population 83! More cows, donkeys, and bales of hay than people! A town square that is made up of a mere handful of storefronts and Royer’s Round Top Cafe (home to some famous pies!). Winding dirt roads without street lights, which ensure you inevitably will get lost on foot after nightfall (I say this from experience…). I mean we are talking full on Texas countryside here. So, this city girl was shaking in her heels on the eve of going somewhere so rural. But, little did I know that the slow paced life and wide open spaces were just what I needed to take a breath from all the crazy.