The annual Houston Baseball Dinner is highlighted by the Astros distributing various franchise awards.

But for one night, it seemed like the Cy-Fair baseball team could claim as many honorees as the pros.

On the heels of winning the 5A state championship in 2007, two Bobcats were named to the All-Greater Houston Area Preseason High School Team and coach Woody Champagne received the Ray Knoblauch Award for area Coach of the Year Thursday night.

"We have some good players in the Cy-Fair district," said Bobcats centerfielder Robbie Grossman, a Texas commitment. "It's a huge honor. Coach Champagne has put in a lot of time and he deserves to be honored."

Grossman and pitcher/first baseman Tommy Collier were among the 16 preseason honorees, introduced as part of the dinner at the Hilton Americas downtown.

Other area honorees included Memorial centerfielder Jeremy Rathjen, Second Baptist outfielder/pitcher Ross Seaton, Langham Creek shortstop/pitcher Codey Morehouse, Lamar shortstop Anthony Rendon and Westside pitcher/outfielder Taylor Wall.

"This is an exciting deal," said Seaton, a Tulane commit. "It's a huge honor to be a part of this."

The entire team is listed below.

Rathjen, Rendon and Wall all will play for Rice.

"It's great to have everything lined up (speaking of a college commitment) but I still want to do well this year," said Rathjen, whose .402 average, seven home runs and 16 doubles garnered Rice's attention despite Rathjen having played only one varsity season.

Grossman was one of three future Longhorns honored. The other two are Klein Collins pitcher Austin Dicharry and pitcher/first baseman/outfielder Hunter Cervenka from Baytown Sterling.

The players hob-nobbed among themselves and openly hoped to meet Astros player Carlos Lee, Roy Oswalt, Hunter Pence and Woody Williams, who were given team awards at the banquet.

"This is the biggest thing that's ever happened to me," said Morehouse, who will play at the University of Houston and expressed hope that Langham Creek can advance beyond the fourth-round this season, the stage at which it lost to Kingwood in 2007. "We're returning a few guys who can hit and we'll be a little short on pitching but we're excited. We'll see what happens."

2008 ALL-GREATER HOUSTON AREA PRESEASON HIGH SCHOOL TEAM
Hunter Cervenka, Baytown Sterling
Tommy Collier, Cy-Fair
Jared Cosart, Clear Creek
Austin Dicharry, Klein Collins
Robbie Grossman, Cy-Fair
Ross Hales, Barbers Hill
Kyle Mangum, Brenham
Codey Morehouse, Langham Creek
Jeremy Rathjen, Memorial
Anthony Rendon, Lamar
Jeremy Schaffer, Bellaire
Wes Schill, College Station A&M Consolidated
Ross Seaton, Second Baptist
Bobby Stone, Montgomery
Taylor Wall, Westside
Kyle Winkler, Fort Bend Kempner

THURSDAY NIGHT'S HONOREES
Ray Knoblauch Award (High School Coach of the Year): Woody Champagne, Cy-Fair
Houston Area Preseason Major College Player of the Year: Aaron Luna, Rice
2007 Astro Rookie of the Year: Hunter Pence
2007 Houston Area Major League Player of the Year: Josh Beckett
2007 Allen Russell Distinguished Achievement Award: Wayne Graham, Rice coach
2007 Darryl Kyle Award (selflessness in favor of the team): Woody Williams
2007 Astro Pitcher of the Year: Roy Oswalt
2007 Most Valuable Astro: Carlos Lee

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