JAMAICA, N.Y. -- St. John's University junior shortstop Mike Rozema (Fair Lawn, N.J.) was named the District II Player of the Year by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers, and was selected to the American Baseball Coaches Association/Rawlings All-Northeast Region First team, it was announced today.

Rozema was chosen as one of nine winners nationally for the district awards. From the nine district winners, the NCBWA will select the winner of the prestigious Dick Howser Trophy, to be announced at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, June 13, 2003, in the Old Lobby (second floor) of the Courtyard by Marriott, 101 South 10th Avenue, Omaha, Nebraska.

Other district winners include: pitcher Chris Lambert of Boston College, who won the District I Award; Alabama outfielder Beau Hearod, who took District III honors; South Carolina pitcher David Marchbanks, who was voted the top player in District IV; Ohio State pitcher Scott Lewis, who was the District V winner; Nebraska first baseman Matt Hooper, who took District VI honors; Tulane first baseman Michael Aubrey and second baseman Richie Weeks of Auburn, who shared District VII accolades; New Mexico State first baseman Billy Becher in District VIII and Arizona State shortstop Dustin Pedroia, who was the winner in District IX.

Rozema, who led St. John’s to a 29-27 overall record, finished the season batting .408, which led the team, ranked third in the BIG EAST and was 27th in the nation. His .408 average was tied for the fifth-best single season mark in school history and he is one of only eight players at the school to bat .400 or higher. He led the Red Storm in nearly every offensive category, including batting average, at-bats (196), hits (80), runs scored (44), runs batted in (33) and on-base percentage (.460). He is only the second player in program history to reach 80 hits in one season.

In BIG EAST games, he ranked second in the league with a .439 batting average, and was also among the top-10 in hits (2nd, 43), stolen bases (5th, 9), doubles (3rd, 9), total bases (2nd, 59), on-base percentage (4th, .491) and slugging percentage (5th, .602). He had a career-high .969 fielding percentage, which was the second-best mark of any BIG EAST shortstop this season.

He also had a career-high 22-game hit streak, batting .542 in that span (45-for-83), with 21 runs scored, 19 RBI, six doubles, three triples and one home run. Rozema had a team-high 24 multi-hit games, including 15 with two hits, six with three and three four-hit games. He reached base safely in 26-straight games at one point, and in 48 of 54 games overall.

Rozema was a first-team All-BIG EAST selection at shortstop and was named a third-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association, in addition to the honors received today.