College Baseball Daily continues our countdown to the start of the 2014 college baseball season by checking in on the Top 100 Players in the country. We will be adding players day-by-day until we get to number one!
Number 17 on our countdown is Oregon State senior Ben Wentzler from Clackamas, Oregon where he attended Clackamas High School. He had a career high school record of 28-3 with five saves, 342 strikeouts, 53 walks, 25 earned runs and a 0.87 ERA in 201 1/3 innings pitched. He went 12-0 his senior year, finishing with four saves and a 0.32 ERA. He was named the Gatorade Player of the Year and selected as the Louisville Slugger Player of the Year, was an All-American and participated in the Oregon 6A-5A All-Star series.
As a freshman, he pitched in 17 games while starting 12 going 6-3 with a 4.66 ERA in 67 2/3 innings including one save. He posted 50 strikeouts walking 18 and holding opponents to a .275 batting average against. He played for the Corvallis Knights of the West Coast League pitching in 12 games, all in relief, going 0-0 including two saves with a 0.47 ERA. He allowed just one earned run in 19 innings while striking out 16.
His sophomore season saw him go 8-2 with a 3.10 ERA in 16 starts. He struck out 75 in 101 2/3 innings. In Pac-12 play, he went 4-2 with a 3.25 earned run average in 10 Pac-12 starts, striking out 50 in 63 2/3 innings. He played with Falmouth in the Cape Cod Baseball League with him making three starts and going 1-1 with a 2.35 earned run average, striking out 17 in 15 1/3 innings.
His junior season continued his strong play appearing in 16 games, all starts, and went 10-1 with a 2.25 earned run average in 96 innings. He struck out 83 and issued 32 walks tallying 10 quality starts. In ten Pac-12 starts, he recorded a 7-0 record and 2.13 ERA in 63 1/3 innings.
You can check out the rest of our Top 100 by clicking here.
