LUBBOCK, Texas — The definition of an ace is a guy who goes out to the mound and instills the confidence for the rest of the team that today’s result will be a victory. Each of the five finalists for the Pitcher of the Year Award certainly would qualify as an ace.
From conferences large and small and from coast to coast, the finalists for the Pitcher of the Year Award have put up tremendous numbers while at the same time helped position their respective teams for postseason success.
The five finalists are Oregon State junior Luke Heimlich, St. John’s freshman Sean Mooney, North Carolina junior JB Bukauskas, Loyola-Marymount junior Cory Abbott and Texas Tech sophomore Steven Gingery.
“We really think this may be the strongest class of finalists that we have had in the history of this award,” said award co-chair Chris Snead. “Each of these young men brings a unique quality to this award and each would make a tremendous recipient of the Pitcher of the Year.”
The award, sponsored by Diamond, will be presented later this summer by the College Baseball Foundation.
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- Luke Heimlich, Jr., Oregon State: The Beavers have been blessed with pitching this season, helping them grab and maintain the No. 1 ranking for most of the season. Heimlich has been their series-opening starter, going 10-1 with a 0.81 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 111.1 innings.
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- Sean Mooney, Fr., St. John’s: Mooney’s arrival on campus helped St. John’s dominate the Big East regular season and positioned the Red Storm for a postseason run. On the year, he is 8-1 with a 1.22 ERA, striking out 85 in 96 innings of work.
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- JB Bukauskas, Jr., North Carolina: Teams that had to face the Tar Heels struggled to have any success against Bukauskas, the ace of the North Carolina staff. Bukauskas on the season was 9-0 with a 2.02 ERA, and he struck out 111 batters in 89 innings.
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- Cory Abbott, Jr., Loyola-Marymount: Abbott highlighted his season by throwing the first perfect game in school history on March 25 against BYU. But he also was consistent throughout the campaign, going 11-2 with a 1.74 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 98.1 innings.
- Steven Gingery, Soph., Texas Tech: After a modest freshman season, the left-hander made a huge jump and was a key reason Texas Tech repeated as Big 12 Conference champions. On the year, he is 9-1 with a 1.69 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 85 1/3 innings.
