June 10, 2008

HOUSTON - University of Houston closer Chase Dempsay earned another postseason honor Monday when he was named to the inaugural Pro-Line Athletic National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Freshman All-American First Team.

The Baytown native was named to the 2008 Louisville Slugger Freshmen All-American Team last week.

Dempsay emerged as a force out of the bullpen in 2008. With a team-leading 11 saves, he became only the fourth player in UH single-season history to record double-digit saves. He also set UH freshmen records in both wins and saves.

He posted an 8-3 record with 49 strikeouts, a 2.53 ERA and a .214 opposing average. Both his ERA and opposing batting average would be team bests and rank among the C-USA Top-10 leaders if he qualified with enough innings.

Dempsay, who was a true freshmen in 2008, was named to the 2008 C-USA All-Freshmen Team in late May.

Dempsay was one of four Conference USA players named to the team, joining fellow First-Team honorees Seth Maness (pitcher, East Carolina) and Rob Segedin (third baseman, Tulane) and Second-Team member Rick Hague (shortstop, Rice).

The three first team selections tied Conference USA with the ACC and SEC for most first team honorees. C-USA's four total selections on the two teams trailed only the ACC, which produced nine members of the first and second teams.

The 2008 Pro-Line NCBWA Freshman All-American Teams were comprised of players from 15 conference and seven conference championship teams.

Pro-Line Athletic is in its fourth year as a sponsor of the NCBWA. It produces and distributes plaques for National Hitter and Pitchers of the Week during the regular season and extends its award production to include plaques for each member of the Pro-Line NCBWA All-American Team.

During the summer of 2006, Pro-Line launched into the custom game clothing business with all products being manufactured in its facility in Fort Worth. As a part of this transition, the company re-branded Pro-Line Cap Company to become Pro-Line Athletic, a full-line athletic apparel company offering American-made headwear, workout gear and uniforms.