LUBBOCK, Texas – Gardner-Webb seniors Daniel Cooke and Bubbie Spake have each been named to the 2009 Brooks Wallace National Player of the Year Preseason Watch List, as announced by the College Baseball Foundation.

Cooke and Spake are the first Gardner-Webb student-athletes to be named to the list, which is a collection of the nation's top baseball players, regardless of position. The Brooks Wallace Award is given annually to the nation's top college baseball player.

Florida State's Buster Posey (2008) captured the award last season.

Cooke (Charlotte, N.C. / Independence HS) enters his senior campaign at Gardner-Webb on a roll with the bat and on the bases. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound outfielder batted .339 with 53 runs scored and 43 RBI last season in 58 starts, led the team with seven sacrifice flies and swiped a career-high 31 bases in 37 attempts. Also a strong defensive outfielder, Cooke registered eight outfield assists to lead the team.

Cooke batted .338 with 22 steals as a sophomore in 2007, and ranks first in Gardner-Webb history with 68 career stolen bases. Cooke also ranks among the school's best ever in career hits (6th, 184), career runs scored (6th, 114) and single season steals (2nd, 31).

A two-sport standout at Gardner-Webb (football / free safety), Cooke is on pace to become the first student-athlete in NCAA Division I history to finish a two-sport career with at least 275 career tackles, 200 base hits and 75 stolen bases. Cooke finished his football career at Gardner-Webb ranked 16th in school history with 282 tackles and was a four-time All-Big South Conference selection on the gridiron, earning first-team honors in three different seasons (2005, 2006, 2008).

Spake (Catawba, N.C. / Bandys HS / Surry CC) proved to be one of the Diamond ‘Dogs most potent power threats last season, batting .306 with 14 home runs and 63 RBI in 57 starts. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound slugger scored 50 runs, rapped out 13 doubles and had a .557 slugging percentage – as well as setting a new GWU standard with 22 hit by pitches. He was one of five GWU players to finish with an on base percentage above .400 (.406 OBP).

Spake's 14 home runs were third most in a GWU single season, with several of those launched to tape measure distances – including a blast high over the wall to dead center at cavernous Cardinal Park in Johnson City, Tenn., and an opposite field blast to right center at the U.S. Olympic Training Facility in Cary. Spake's 63 RBI were fourth most in a single season for a Gardner-Webb hitter, and most since the school moved to NCAA Division I in 2001.

Spake was an NJCAA All-America at Surry (N.C.) Community College in 2007 before joining the Diamond ‘Dogs last season.

The Wallace Award is dedicated to the memory of former Texas Tech player and assistant coach Brooks Wallace. Wallace was a slick-fielding shortstop at Texas Tech from 1977 to 1980. A four-year starter, he was named All-Southwest Conference and All-District his senior year. He led the Red Raiders to their first-ever appearance in the Southwest Conference Tournament in 1980.

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.

Gardner-Webb opens its 2009 season on February 20 at home vs. Canisius. The ‘Dogs and Griffs will battle in a four-game series in Boiling Springs, N.C.