Georgia junior first baseman Rich Poythress is one of 30 semifinalists for the 2009 Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the nation’s premier amateur baseball player, it was announced Tuesday by USA Baseball.

A native of Grovetown, Ga., Poythress is batting .370 with 21 home runs and 77 RBI and hit .360 average in league play. He is among the SEC leaders in batting, slugging, on-base percentage, runs, hits, doubles, home runs and total bases. He needs just one RBI to break Gordon Beckham’s single season school record 77 RBI last year, and Poythress is the first player in Georgia history to record two 70 RBI seasons after driving in 75 runs a year ago. He is two home runs shy of tying Josh Morris and Andy Osbolt for second on Georgia’s single season home runs list. Poythress was voted first team All-SEC and was also named to the All-Defensive team for the second straight year.

After accepting nominations from sports information directors across the country, a committee voted to determine the 30 semifinalists. The names of the 30 semifinalists will now be forwarded to a voting body of 125 who will select the five finalists and the eventual 2009 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award winner. Former Bulldog Gordon Beckham was a finalist for the award last year.

Poythress and the Bulldogs (37-22) open play in the NCAA Tallahassee Regional Friday against Ohio State.

2009 Golden Spikes Award Semifinalists
Dustin Ackley, North Carolina
Eric Arnett, Indiana
Buddy Baumann, Missouri State
Kyle Bellamy, Miami
Daniel Bibona, UC Irvine
Bryce Brentz , Middle Tennessee State
Louis Coleman, LSU
Chris Dominguez, Louisville
Josh Fellhauer, Cal State Fullerton
Kyle Gibson, Missouri
Jason Kipnis, Arizona State
Marc Krauss, Ohio
Mike Leake, Arizona State
Justin Marks, Louisville
Bryan Marquez, New Mexico State
Kent Matthes, Alabama
Deck McGuire, Georgia Tech
Tommy Mendonca, Fresno State
A.J. Morris, Kansas State
Josh Phegley, Indiana
Rich Poythress, Georgia
Brooks Raley, Texas A&M
Addison Reed, San Diego State
Anthony Rendon, Rice
Tony Sanchez, Boston College
Angelo Songco, Loyola Marymount
Stephen Strasburg, San Diego State
Alex White, North Carolina
Alex Wimmers, Ohio State
J.T. Wise, Oklahoma

- Georgia Sports Communications