June 30, 2006

HOUSTON - University of Houston catcher/pitcher Luis Flores was named to Baseball America magazine's All-Freshman First Team on Friday.

Flores, who was previously named to the Louisville Slugger All-Freshman Team by Collegiate Baseball magazine, became the first Cougar since 2002 to be honored as a Freshman All-American.

In 2006, the Corpus Christi, Texas, native emerged as one of the Cougars' most versatile players, seeing playing time at six different positions (catcher, pitcher, first base, left field, right field and DH).

At the plate, he batted .288 with eight home runs and 30 RBIs and was the only Cougar slugger to blast two home runs in a game twice during the season. Flores accomplished that feat at Texas A&M and No. 22 Southern Miss.

However, Flores also established himself as a solid performer on the mound, breaking into the Cougars' weekend rotation early in the 2006 campaign. Flores finished the year with a 6-3 record with 67 strikeouts and a 3.00 ERA in 87.0 innings of work.

Flores was previously named to the C-USA All-Freshmen Team and earned a berth on the C-USA All-Tournament Team after a stellar pitching performance against No. 11 Tulane that helped lift the Cougars into the C-USA Tournament championship game.