NEW YORK, N.Y. - Buster Posey capped off one of the greatest seasons in Florida State history winning the 2008 Golden Spikes Award as announced by USA Baseball Wednesday afternoon in downtown New York City. Posey becomes the fourth Seminole to capture the Golden Spikes Award joining Mike Fuentes (1981), Mike Loynd (1986) and J.D. Drew (1997) as past winners. Since the award's inception in 1978, Florida State leads the nation with four Golden Spikes Award recipients moving ahead of Arizona State and Cal State Fullerton with three award winners each.

The other finalists for the Golden Spikes Award included San Diego's Brian Matusz, Georgia's Gordon Beckham, Missouri's Aaron Crow and Brett Wallace of Arizona State.

Posey wrapped up his junior season as arguably the most decorated player ever to come out of Florida State. The Leesburg, Ga., native won every major Player of the Year award in 2008 claiming the Dick Howser Trophy and Brooks Wallace Award while capturing the Johnny Bench Award given to the nation's top collegiate catcher. He was also named Player of the Year by Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America and Rivals.com. Posey added Most Outstanding Player of the Tallahassee Regional to his list of accolades after hitting .474 (9-for-19) with five home runs and 13 RBIs in leading Florida State back to the College World Series for the first time since 2000.

The consensus first team All-American finished the season as the national leader in six offensive categories including batting average, hits, RBI, total bases, slugging percentage and on-base percentage. Posey became just the fourth student-athlete in Atlantic Coast Conference history to capture baseball's version of the triple crown as he finished the season leading the league in batting average (.463), home runs (26) and RBI (93).

Posey was honored for his stellar work behind the plate claiming a Rawlings Gold Glove Award as he posted a .983 fielding percentage in 62 starts. He closed out the 2008 campaign throwing out 40.7 percent of would be base stealers while registering six pick offs. Posey committed just eight errors on the year closing out the season with a 12-game errorless streak. He had just four errors over his last 62 games.

"This is one of the most memorable moments in Florida State baseball history," said head coach Mike Martin. "Buster Posey has done something that I have never seen in my 34 years as a college coach and I doubt I will ever see it again. I am literally astounded by Buster's accomplishment of capturing ever major award given to a college baseball player in a given year. I am very proud of Buster and very happy for him and his family."

In the ACC, the junior catcher was named Player of the Year while nabbing first team accolades for the second consecutive year. He finished the regular season batting .479 in 30 league games leading the Seminoles to their second straight Atlantic Division title and the number two overall seed in the ACC Baseball Championship.

Posey's success continued in the classroom as he was named CoSIDA/ESPN the Magazine Academic Player of the Year. The junior catcher is a three-time member of the Dean's List while earning President's List honors (4.0 GPA) in the fall of 2007. He has been named to the ACC Academic team twice and is a two-time member of the ACC Honor Roll. A finance major, Posey has posted over a 3.8 G.P.A. in his first three seasons at Florida State.

Posey was chosen fifth overall by the San Francisco Giants in the 2008 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft.

The Golden Spikes Award was held in conjunction with the 79th Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium. The Spikes finalists attended both Monday's Home Run Derby and Tuesday's All-Star Game and was treated to a little baseball history both nights. Minnesota's Justin Morneau beat out Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers to the capture the Home Run Derby. Despite falling in the finals, Hamilton set an All-Star Home Run Derby record hitting 28 home runs in the first round. On Tuesday, the American League defeated the National League 4-3 in 15 innings capping the longest game in history (4 hours, 50 minutes). The win extended the AL's unbeaten streak over the NL to 12 games giving the American League representative home field advantage in this year's World Series.

Florida State alum and current Boston Red Sox outfielder J.D. Drew was named MVP of the Mid Summer Classic going 2-for-4 with a two-run homer and a single.