NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Former Vanderbilt pitcher David Price won the GoldenSpikes Award on Saturday as the nation’s best amateur baseball player.

Taken first in the draft by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Price was a finalistin 2006 for the award, given out annually by USA Baseball.

Price, the first Golden Spikes Award winner from Vanderbilt, finished hisjunior season with an 11-1 record, a 2.63 ERA and 194 strikeouts. He broke theschool’s career strikeout record with 441 in just three seasons and 313 inningsof work.

The pinch-hit homer he gave up to Michigan’s Alan Oaks in an NCAA regionalknocked the Commodores out of the tournament and kept them from reaching theCollege World Series.

“It’s always great to get an award like this,” he said. “I would haveloved to go to Omaha and win that, but this is a good personal accomplishment.”

The four other finalists were Price’s Vanderbilt teammate Pedro Alvarez,Florida’s Matt LaPorta, Florida State’s Tony Thomas and Texas’ Kyle Russell.

Price also won the Dick Howser Trophy for athletic and scholasticachievements and was named collegiate player of the year by the AmericanBaseball Coaches Association and Baseball America.

Some notable former winners of the Golden Spikes include Bob Horner (1978),Terry Francona (1980), Will Clark (1985), Robin Ventura (1988), Ben McDonald(1989), Jason Varitek (1994), J.D. Drew (1997), Mark Prior (2001) and JeredWeaver (2004).