College Baseball Daily continues our countdown to the start of the 2012 College Baseball season by checking in on the Top 100 Players in the country. We will be providing one player per day until we reach number 1.
We continue the countdown today at number 64 with Rice sophomore RHP Austin Kubitza. The Colleyville, Texas native attended Heritage High School where he was a three-year letterman and two-year varsity starter for head coach Alan McDougal. His senior year saw him go 8-2 on the mound with a 2.28 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 64 innings. He was also an accomplished hitter with a .354 batting average with a .687 slugging percentage and 32 RBI in the Panthers’ 33 games. He picked up several honors including being named Second team 5A all-state pitcher, Member of the Texas HS Coaches Association North All-Star team, and named most valuable player honors in District 5-5A. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the seventh round of the 2010 MLB Draft but were not able to come to an agreement with him.
Austin stepped right into the rotation as a freshman making 15 starts while going 6-5 with a 2.34 ERA. He showed excellent control striking out 102 batters while walking 24 in an even 100 innings pitched. He picked up several honors including being named 2011 Conference USA Freshman of the Year, First Team All-South Central Region (ABCA), C-USA All-Freshman team, and Most Outstanding Player at Houston College Classic.
He spent the summer with the Santa Barbara Foresters where he made 12 appearances (five starts) totaling 39 innings. He ended the summer with a record of 3-1 with a 3.46 ERA.
You can check out the rest of our Top 100 by clicking here.
