49ers’ Weaver Is Honored

Jered Weaver added the most prestigious honor to his long list of postseason awards when he won the Golden Spikes Award given by USA Baseball to the nation’s top amateur player.

Weaver is the first Long Beach State player to receive the award since its inception in 1978. The right-handed pitcher, who was the Angels’ top choice and 12th overall pick in the June amateur draft, was the consensus college player of the year after a remarkable junior season.

In leading the 49ers to the NCAA super-regionals, Weaver went 15-1 with a 1.62 earned-run average and 213 strikeouts with only 21 walks in 144 innings.

“I never expected any of these awards to come, so to even be among the top five amateur players in the country, that’s a very big honor,” Weaver said. “This past season, I just tried to keep my team in ball games and I was able to do that.”

The 6-foot-7, 205-pound younger brother of Dodger pitcher Jeff Weaver beat out finalists Wade Townsend of Rice, Huston Street of Texas, Dustin Pedroia of Arizona State and Stephen Head of Mississippi.

-- Eric Stephens