(November 22, 2005) ?C Seven returning members of last season??s CBF National Honors Team head up a list of 120 baseball student-athletes on the 2006 Wallace Watch released this week by the College Baseball Foundation in Lubbock, TX. The Brooks Wallace Award is presented annually to the national college baseball player of the year. The 2005 winner, third baseman Alex Gordon of Nebraska, has signed to play professionally for the Kansas City Royals. Among those listed is Fordham??s sophomore pitcher Cory Riordan (Killingworth, CT/Killingworth-Haddam). Riordan, who was named the 2005 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team, was awarded the 2005 Atlantic 10 Baseball Rookie of the Year as well as garnering Second Team All-Conference honors. He closed out his rookie campaign with a 10-4 record and a 3.61 ERA with four complete games. He carried a 25-inning scoreless streak into the Atlantic 10 tournament, the second longest scoreless streak in Fordham history, and had the streak snapped at 26 innings. The right-hander made 16 appearances last spring, starting 13 games, and recorded four shutouts. In a team-high 87.1 innings, Riordan fanned a team-best 66 batters while walking only 26 and opponents hit just .226 against him last spring. He is the first Fordham pitcher to win ten games in a season since Paul Darrigo in 1998 and the first to throw two complete game shutouts in a year since Joe Maniscalco in 1991. Riordan was one of three Atlantic 10 players on the Watch list, along with Dayton??s Luke Trubee and George Washington??s Derrik Lutz. The Wallace Watch will be trimmed to 12 semi-finalists by late May. Then the selection committee will narrow the list to three finalists following the NCAA Super Regionals at a press conference in Omaha. The finalists, their head coaches, and their parents will be invited to Lubbock, TX, for a schedule of special events tied to the award banquet, which will again be nationally televised by Fox Sports Network. Dedicated to the memory of former Texas Tech shortstop and assistant coach, Wallace was a slick-fielding shortstop at Texas Tech from 1977 to 1980. A 4-year starter, he was named All-Southwest Conference and All-District Six his senior year when he led the Red Raiders to their first-ever appearance in the Southwest Conference Tournament. After playing two years in the Texas Rangers organization, he returned to Texas Tech and served as a graduate assistant and later as an assistant coach. In the summer of 1984 he was diagnosed with cancer and fought the disease courageously until his death on March 24, 1985, at age 27. The Plano, Texas, native was married to the former Sandy Arnold and they had one daughter, Lindsay Ryan. The selection committee for the Wallace Award is comprised of a national panel of preeminent coaches, sports information directors, former winners and beat media who most closely follow the sport. Screening Committee members will evaluate the candidates and will continue their review throughout the entire baseball season. The list will expand and contract during the regular season and additional Wallace Watch candidates may be added as the season progresses. Voting for the three finalists and the Wallace Award winner will be conducted by confidential balloting, with totals tabulated by the J.W.Anderson & Associates accounting firm in Lubbock, TX.