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Jun-11-2014 20:57printcomments

Oregon State Baseball Players Keep Racking Up Awards

Conforto and Wetzler are both finalists for the Dick Howser Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top player (by the NCBWA).


L-R: Ben Wetzler, Jace Fry, Michael Conforto. Photo Courtesy: Oregon State Athletics

(CORVALLIS, Ore. ) - Oregon State senior Ben Wetzler and juniors Jace Fry and Michael Conforto keep racking up the postseason honors. And for good reason.

Wetzler, Fry and Conforto were all named to two All-America teams on Wednesday, giving them all three such honors this season after Collegiate Baseball recognized them two weeks ago. Wetzler and Conforto earned first-team honors from Baseball America and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association on Wednesday while Fry is first-teamer by the NCBWA and second-team selection by Baseball America.

It’s the first time since 2005 (Dallas Buck and Jacoby Ellsbury) that the Beavers have had multiple-first team selections by different players and the first time that they’ve had three in the same season. Conforto, meanwhile, is the first Oregon State player to earn All-America honors in three different seasons, and he’s also the first Beaver to be named first team in different years since Jay Dean in 1954 and 1955.

Conforto and Wetzler are both finalists for the Dick Howser Award, which is given annually to the nation’s top player (by the NCBWA). That will be announced Saturday at the College World Series. Conforto is also one of three finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, which will be announced in mid July. Fans can vote for him at GoldenSpikesAward.com.

Last, but certainly not least, Wetzler and Fry are finalists for the national Pitcher of the Year honor by the College Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Beavers are the lone Pac-12 Conference school to have a player on either first team.

Conforto batted .345 for the Beavers this season, and led the Pac-12 in slugging percentage (.547), on-base percentage (.504), walks (55) and runs scored (52) and was second in runs batted in (56), third in home runs (seven) and doubles (16), fourth in total bases (111) and seventh in hits (70). He set the OSU single-season record for walks and broke the school’s record for RBI with 179.

Conforto was also named the Pac-12 Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.

Wetzler continues to lead the nation in earned run average at 0.78, which should that hold (no other active player is in the top 10) would be the lowest ERA to lead the nation in nearly 35 years. The 0.78 mark is the third-lowest in Pac-12 history and helped Wetzler to a 12-1 record. Opponents batted just .143 against him, which also leads the nation.

The left-hander leaves the Oregon State program as the Beavers’ all-time leader with 36 wins and 369 1/3 innings pitched and is second only to Jonah Nickerson with 291 strikeouts. Wetzler was 22-2 over his last two seasons; the Beavers were 27-2 when he started over that same stretch.

Fry, meanwhile, finished one win shy of Wetzler in the Pac-12’s leaders’ column and finished the 2014 season with an 11-2 mark and 1.80 ERA In a team-leading 120 1/3 innings. He was named the Pac-12’s Pitcher of the Year – the Beavers’ first since the league unified prior to the 1999 season – after holding league foes to a .159 batting average in going 8-1 with a 0.92 ERA.

Fry was a third-round selection by the Chicago White Sox in the most recent MLB Draft. Conforto went in the first round to the New York Mets and Wetzler went in the ninth round to Miami.

Source: Oregon State Athletics

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