The Big 12 leads all conferences with five pitchers on the newest edition of The College Baseball Hall of Fame Pitcher of the Year Award Watch List. Trent Blank (Baylor), Josh Turley (Baylor), Andrew Heaney (Oklahoma State), Ross Stripling (Texas A&M) and Michael Wacha (Texas A&M) make up 25 percent of the 25-member list.
Blank, Heaney, Stripling and Wacha have also been named Dick Howser Award Trophy semifinalists. Baylor and Texas A&M are two of four schools with multiple hurlers on the list.
A native of Columbia, Ill., Blank ranks seventh nationally and leads the Big 12 with a 10-1 record. He ranks seventh in the league with a 2.11 ERA in 13 starts. With his victory on Friday against Texas, Blank posted the 15th double-digit wins season in Baylor program history. His only loss this season came at Oklahoma on May 12, when he pitched his first career complete game and allowed one earned run in a 2-1 loss.
Turley boasts the third-best ERA in the Conference with a 1.67 mark in 13 games started. The Texarkana, Texas-product has produced an 8-0 record, while Baylor is 12-1 on the season in games he started. He has allowed one earned run or fewer in nine of his 13 starts and has limited opponents to a .225 batting average. In his last six starts, Turley has given up only five earned runs in 45.2 innings of work for a 5-0 record and a 0.99 ERA.
In his 14 starts this season, Heaney is 8-1 with five complete games, three shutouts and a 1.63 ERA. He ranks second in the NCAA with 132 strikeouts in 110.1 innings and has recorded eight or more strikeouts in 11 of his 14 appearances, including six in which he’s struck out 10 or more.
Heaney is the first OSU pitcher since 2000 to record 100 or more strikeouts in a season, and his 132 Ks are the fifth-highest single-season total by a Cowboy pitcher. He leads the Big 12 with three shutouts, which is tied for the third most in a single season in OSU history, and also tops the conference in complete games and innings pitched. He ranks second in the league in ERA and opponent batting average (.183).
Stripling made national news during his last outing on May 12 by tossing the 11th no-hitter in Texas A&M baseball history during a 1-0 win over San Diego State. For the year, the Southlake, Texas-native is 10-2 with a 2.70 ERA and 104 strikeouts in 110 innings. His win count is tied for first among league pitchers, while his ERA and strikeout marks are second best.
Wacha is also enjoying a standout 2012 season on the mound as the right-hander remains unbeaten on the year with a perfect 8-0 record. Additionally, the rightt-hander from Texarkana, Texas, leads the Aggies with a 2.09 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 99 innings of work. In the Big 12, the junior ranks third in strikeouts, fourth in ERA and fifth in innings pitched.