Baseball Places School-Record Seven On Pac-12 First Team
May 29, 2013
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - A school record seven Oregon State baseball players have been named to the Pac-12 Conference's First-Team, as announced by the league Wednesday when its 25-man first team was announced.
The Beavers' entire starting staff, Matt Boyd, Andrew Moore and Ben Wetzler, were named to the first team as were outfielders Michael Conforto and Dylan Davis, infielder Tyler Smith and catcher Jake Rodriguez. Conforto and Smith are back-to-back selections after being named first team in 2012.
Pitcher Scott Schultz and infielder Andy Peterson have also been named honorable mention. Schultz collected 10 saves during the regular season while Peterson batted .341 with five doubles and 26 RBI.
Conforto was also named the Pac-12's Player of the Year and Moore was named its Freshman Of The Year.
The seven selections surpasses the 2005 Oregon State team for most in school history as that club tallied six.
Boyd went 10-3 during the regular season and accumulated a 2.09 earned run average, three complete games and 98 strikeouts. He was named the Pac-12's Pitcher of the Week twice and threw a one-hit shutout against Arizona State in March. It was the first time in 30 years the Sun Devils had been one-hit.
Moore, meanwhile, enters the postseason with a Pac-12 leading 12 victories and is second in the league with a 1.22 ERA. He threw three shutouts, including two consecutive to end the regular season. Opponents have scored just two earned runs in his last 42 innings of work. He is on a seven-game win streak.
Wetzler carries a 7-1 mark into the postseason, and is on a seven-game win streak over his last eight starts. He has a 2.10 ERA in 73 innings, and has posted one shutout. The lefty has earned his second league honor after being named honorable mention last season.
Conforto has a .332 batting average and was just one of two Oregon State players to play in all 55 games during the regular season. He leads Oregon State with nine home runs and is second on the club with 42 runs batted in, which is tied for eighth in the Pac-12. He also leads the league with 37 walks.
Davis is the Pac-12's RBI leader with 53, including 34 in conference games. He also leads the Pac-12 with 20 doubles - which places him in the top 10 in OSU single-season history - and his .344 batting average is good for sixth. He is also 8-for-10 in stolen bases and has just one error in 95 chances.
Smith played in 46 games at short for the Beavers, batting .306 with seven doubles, two home runs and 23 RBI. He missed 12 games midway through the season due to injury, and the Beavers went 7-5 in his absence but OSU was 38-5 with him in the lineup.
Last, but certainly not least, is Rodriguez, whose work behind the plate and stalled opponents' running games. He and fellow catcher Nate Esposito kept opponents from stealing a base in 20 straight games for Sunday; Rodriguez had thrown out 13 straight. Opponents were just 11-for-30 (36.6 percent) in stolen-base attempts against him this season. Rodriguez also batted .272 with nine doubles, two home runs and 32 RBI.
The seven will be back in action Friday night when Oregon State hosts UTSA in the team's Corvallis Regional opener. The game starts at 5:05 p.m. PT and can be seen live on ESPN3.com.
The game can be heard on the Beaver Sports Network with the following stations carrying the game: KEJO 1240-AM in Corvallis/Albany, FOX Sports Radio Portland (620-AM), KICE 940-AM (Bend) and KSKR 1490-AM in Roseburg.
All-session tickets were made available to the general public starting at 7 a.m. on Wednesday. Infield reserved tickets are $100 while outfield general admission seats are $75 and student outfield seats cost $56. All-session tickets guarantee the holder to all six games of the regional, and a seventh if necessary game.
Single-game tickets will be made available on each day - pending availability - and cost $20 for infield reserved seats, $15 for outfield general admission and $12 for student outfield seats. The ticket office at Goss Stadium will open at 10 a.m. on the first day of the regional and two hours prior to the first game's first pitch each subsequent day.
Fans can purchase tickets by calling 1-800-GOBEAVS, going online at BeaverTickets.com or in person at Gill Coliseum, which is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information on the Oregon State baseball team, follow the club's official Twitter account at Twitter.com/Beaver_Baseball or by Facebook at Facebook.com/OregonStateBaseball.
Support Oregon State University Athletics by making your tax deductible donation to Our Beaver Nation. For more information follow this link or call 541-737-2370. Former Student-Athletes are invited to join the Varsity O Facebook Page for upcoming Alumni events.
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