MILWAUKEE – Former University of South Alabama baseball standout and current St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese was named most valuable player of the National League Championship Series Sunday evening at Miller Park.
 
Freese, a 2006 All-American and Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year, batted .545 with three home runs, nine RBI and seven runs scored in six games to lead the Cardinals to the World Series for the first time since 2006. He went 3-for-4 in Sunday’s 12-6 series-clinching win with a home run, double, three RBI and three runs scored.

“What our bullpen did, they really deserve this award,” Freese said following the announcement which made him the first former Jaguar to be named NLCS MVP. “They’re the reason why we won this series. You have good moments, and this is definitely one of them. This is an unbelievable moment – getting to the World Series. You have to be a team to beat a team like Milwaukee, and that’s what we did.

“It means the world to me not only getting to the World Series but to be a part of this group of guys. Quitting out of high school, one of the main reasons I came back was because of the camaraderie of the baseball team.”

Freese batted .297 with 10 homers and 55 RBI in 97 regular-season games this season with the Cardinals, while helping them capture a National League-best 18th NLCS pennant in his first postseason appearance.

“He’s a great kid, and he has battled injuries – serious injuries – or I think he would have come on to the scene a little earlier,” Cardinal left fielder Matt Holliday said of Freese. “But to get to watch him grow up as a guy and a person and player, and come out here and do what he did; I’m super-impressed.”

St. Louis will host game one of the 2011 World Series Wed., Oct. 19, at Busch Stadium with first pitch TBA.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).