WICHITA, Kan. ? Two Wichita State baseball student-athletes have been named semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award presented by USA Baseball. Junior third baseman Conor Gillaspie and junior pitcher Anthony Capra are on the list of 50 semifinalists.

This year will mark the 31st consecutive year that the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award has been presented to the nation's premier amateur baseball player.

Today also marks the launch of GoldenSpikesAward.com, powered by MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball. The new Web site features content devoted exclusively to the GSA, including news, voting history, past-winner photo galleries, and photographs and video highlights for 2008 semifinalists. Fans can follow online at GoldenSpikesAward.com as the list of 50 players is narrowed to five finalists on Tuesday, June 3, en route to the announcement of this year's winner on Wednesday, July 16.

The 2008 GSA will be awarded as part of a production by Major League Baseball and MLBAM that will be streamed live on the Internet exclusively at GoldenSpikesAward.com and MLB.com. The annual event will be held in New York City following MLB All-Star Week with a time and location to be announced in early June.

North Carolina leads the way with three semifinalists (Dustin Ackley, Tim Fedroff and Alex White), and eight other schools (Arizona State, California, Georgia, Kentucky, Miami [FL], San Diego, South Carolina, and Wichita State) have two semifinalists each.

In total, 40 colleges and universities are represented on the 2008 semifinalist list. Among conferences, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) is tops with nine players on the list, and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and the Pacific-10 Conference (PAC-10) have eight and seven players, respectively.

In 2007, USA Baseball instituted a new selection and balloting procedure for the most prestigious award in amateur baseball, and it will follow the same model again in 2008. After accepting nominations from sports information directors across the country, a committee voted to determine the 50 semifinalists. The names of the 50 semifinalists will now be forwarded to a voting body of 125 who will select the five finalists and the eventual 2008 USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award winner.