June 10, 2005

LOS ANGELES -- Sophomore right-hander Ian Kennedy (Huntington Beach/La Quinta HS) has been named 2005 District IX Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Kennedy earned top honors in the district that includes California, Oregon, Washington, Hawai'i, Arizona and Alaska.

Kennedy is 12-2 this season with a 2.58 ERA for the Trojans. In 111-plus innings, he has allowed only 81 hits, walked 36 and struck out 150 batters, which is the second-most in the nation. He was named earlier as the 2005 Pac-10 Conference Pitcher of the Year and earned Collegiate Baseball All-America first team honors.

USC will play game one of its NCAA Super Regional tomorrow at 7 p.m. Pacific at Oregon State, broadcast live on ESPN2 and ESPNU. Kennedy will face Oregon State ace Dallas Buck in the start of the best-of-three series with the winner advancing to the 2005 College World Series.