ST. LOUIS – Former University of South Alabama baseball standout and current St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese was named the Most Valuable Player of the 2011 Major League Baseball World Series following the Cardinals’ 6-2 win over the Texas Rangers in Game 7 Friday night at Busch Stadium..

He batted .348, with one home run and seven RBI in the World Series, and set an MLB single postseason record with 21 RBI, passing Sandy Alomar (1997), Scott Spiezio (2002) and David Ortiz (2004), to lead the Cardinals to their first World Series championship since 2006 and National-League record 11th in franchise history.

He went 1-for-2 with a double and two RBI in Game 7, and tied Darin Erstad (2002) and Marquis Grissom (1995) for the most hits (25) in a single postseason.

He became the first former Jaguar to be named World Series MVP, and was also named the most valuable player of the National League Championship Series.

Freese hit a walk-off home run in Game 6, along with a triple, three RBI and a run scored, to force a deciding Game 7.

With his Game 6 performance, he became just the fifth player in MLB postseason history to hit a walk-off home run in game six or seven of a World Series, joining Joe Carter (1993), Kirby Puckett (1991), Carlton Fisk (1975) and Bill Mazeroski (1966). Freese also became just the third player all-time to hit a walk-off homer with his team trailing in a series 3-2, joining Puckett and Fisk.

Freese was a two-year letterwinner at South Alabama (2005-06) where he was a first-team All-American and named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 2006.

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