Florida junior Mike Zunino (Cape Coral, Fla.) was named one of the three finalists for the 2012 Johnny Bench Award presented by BaseballSavings.com announced on Monday. In becoming a finalist for the second year in a row, the Gator standout joins junior Mitchell Garver of New Mexico and junior Kevin Plawecki of Purdue vying for the prize presented to the nation’s top catcher.

A final vote among the national committee will occur during the College World Series. All finalists will be brought to Wichita, Kan., and the winner will be announced at the 15th Annual Greater Wichita Sports Banquet on June 28.

A first-team Louisville Slugger All-American who is also a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy and the Golden Spikes Award, Zunino leads the Gators in total bases (154), RBI (60), doubles (27), homers (18), sacrifice flies (9) and slugging percentage (.667). A two-time first-team All-SEC recipient and two-time member of the league’s All-Defensive Team who is hitting .316, he has registered a .994 fielding percentage, with three errors in 474 chances, and has thrown out almost a third of the runners who have attempted to steal on him.

Over the weekend, Zunino was voted to the NCAA Gainesville Regional All-Tournament Team for the third-consecutive season after belting homers in consecutive games against No. 24 Georgia Tech as the top-ranked Gators (45-18) advanced to Super Regionals for the fourth-straight campaign.

Johnny Bench’s career honors include: National League Rookie of the Year (1968); National League Most Valuable Player (1970, 1972); World Series Most Valuable Player (1976); 14-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winner. In 1980, he set an endurance record by catching 100+ games for 13-consecutive seasons. Bench was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in January 1989 with the fourth-highest percentage of total votes cast.

Statistics as of June 4, 2012

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