GoshenGipper
Rest In Peace
- Messages
- 7,946
- Reaction score
- 394
Korpi And Weiland Receive Preseason National Honors
Both Notre Dame pitchers named to Roger Clemens Award watch list; Korpi also on watch list for Brooks Wallace player-of-the-year award.
Dec. 31, 2006
Notre Dame pitchers Wade Korpi and Kyle Weiland have received preseason honors for the 2007 college baseball season, as each was named to the watch list for the Roger Clemens Award (presented to the nation's top pitcher) while Korpi is on the watch list for the Brooks Wallace national player-of-the-year award. Notre Dame is one of just 13 teams with multiple pitchers on the Clemens watch list. In other preseason news, Notre Dame was included among Collegiate Baseball magazine's preseason top-40 rankings, checking in at 39th despite losing all three members of its weekend three-man rotation, All-America first baseman Craig Cooper, Academic All-America shortstop Greg Lopez and 12 total letterwinners from the 2006 team that went 45-17-1 and fashioned a team-record 23-game winning streak.
Korpi (Lake Worth, Fla.) is coming off a stellar sophomore season that included an MVP effort at the BIG EAST Championship, en route to finishing with a 2.00 season earned-run average that ranked 17th in the nation while his strikeout rate of 11.1 Ks per 9.0 innings ranked 15th in Division I. The lefthander's other 2006 season stats included a 7-2 record, a lowly .204 opponent batting average (55 hits allowed), a 3.5 K-to-walk ratio (94/27) and just three hit batters, one wild pitch and one home run allowed in 76.1 innings of work (14 appearances/12 starts). His 2.00 season ERA ranks 16th in the Notre Dame record book and is the eighth-best by an Irish pitcher since the early 1980s. Only six Notre Dame pitchers in the past 15 seasons have registered a lower season opponent batting average than Korpi, whose 11.08 Ks/9 IP represents the sixth-best season rate in the Irish record book (recent closer Ryan Doherty is the only ND pitcher since the mid-1960s with a higher single-season strikeout rate than Korpi).
Weiland (Albuquerque, N.M.) - a lanky 6-foot-4 righthander who finished third nationally with an ND-record 16 saves while compiling a 2.37 ERA for the Irish in 2006 - ranked among the nation's top freshmen in the '06 season, receiving top Freshman All-America honors from Baseball America , Collegiate Baseball and the The Rosenblatt Report/rivals.com while also being invited to the annual USA Baseball National Team trials. A second team all-BIG EAST selection in 2006, Weiland compiled a 2.37 season ERA that ranked fourth-best on the Irish staff while his 30 appearances were one shy of the Notre Dame freshman record (31) set by current big-leaguer Aaron Heilman in 1998 (when he led the nation with a 1.61 ERA). In addition to posting nearly a 2.5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk average (48/20) in 2006, Weiland logged 11 more innings (49.1) than hits allowed (39, with only one home run) and limited opponents to a .224 opponent batting average that ranks third-best ever by a Notre Dame freshman behind Heilman's .198 in '98 and the .201 allowed by Larry Mohs in '94. Weiland converted all but one of his save opportunities en route to nearly doubling Heilman's freshman save record (9) while his 16 saves were three better than the previous overall Irish record (13), set by J.P. Gagne in 2003.
Korpi - who served as the 2006 team's fourth starter - is expected to front a 2007 rotation that is young but highly promising, with other top options for starting pitcher roles in '07 including the likes of sophomores David Phelps, Brett Graffy and Sam Elam, junior Joey Williamson and freshman Eric Maust (who joins Korpi and Elam among the staff's top lefthanders). Weiland likely will return to the closer role but could be tried as a starter, pending various factors including the returns from their respective injuries by senior Dan Kapala and junior Tony Langford (both of whom missed the entire 2006 season).
Weiland is one of four returning Irish players who received all-BIG EAST honors, with that group also including three second-team honorees: junior shortstop Brett Lilley (who played third base his first two seasons), sophomore DH/first baseman Jeremy Barnes (a possible replacement for Cooper, after playing mostly as a DH/2B in '06) and senior outfielder Danny Dressman (the top option in center). Senior catcher Sean Gaston also returns for his third season as the starter behind the plate, with junior second baseman Ross Brezovsky back on the right side of the infield. Freshman A.J. Pollock has emerged as the leading option to fill Lilley's vacated third-base position while the top corner-outfield options include freshman Billy Boockford in right along with sophomore Ryan Connolly (who missed '06 due to injury) and freshman Brayden Ashdown in left. Switch-hitting senior Mike Dury and former Missouri State player Ryan Weglarz (now an MBA graduate student at Notre Dame) joins Barnes as the leading DH candidates, with lefthanded-hitting sophomore Ryan Sharpley another potential starter at first base.
Three of Notre Dam's 2007 opponents - Nebraska (9th), TCU (15th) and Michigan (38th) were included on the Collegiate Baseball preseason top-40, with four others (Stetson, Louisville, Central Michigan and Ball State) also receiving votes in consideration for those rankings.
Notre Dame's 2007 opponents include 16 players who are on the Wallace Award watch list, among them six other players from the BIG EAST Conference: Rutgers shortstop Todd Frazier, St. John's outfielder Chris Joachim, Louisville second baseman Logan Johnson, South Florida shortstop Addison Maruszak, Cincinnati righthander Steve Blevins and Seton Hall pitcher/DH Dan McDonald. Others include the Nebraska duo of shortstop Ryan Wehrle and pitcher Tony Watson, TCU pitcher Jake Arrieta, Stetson outfielder Shane Jordan, Michigan outfielder Eric Rose, Central Michigan outfielder Bryan Mitzel, Ball State first baseman Justin Rogers, Illinois-Chicago outfielder Larry Gempp, Prairie View A&M pitcher Wrandel Taylor and New York Tech DH/pitcher Joe Esposito.
In addition to Notre Dame, the other 12 teams that feature two pitchers on the Clemens Award watch list include Rice, Texas, Florida State , TCU, Tulane, Arkansas, Wichita State, Virginia, Pepperdine, UC Irvine, Ohio State and Army. Seven pitchers from Notre Dame's 2007 opponents are on the Clemens watch list, including the TCU duo of Arrieta and Garrison, Nebraska's Watson, Stetson's Robbie Elsemiller, Scott Barnes of St. John's, Michigan's Chris Fetter and Ball State's Kyle Heyne. Weiland joins Barnes and Fetter among the 14 sophomores who are on the Clemens watch list.
Five of Notre Dame's opposing players were named preseason All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers, with TCU's Arrieta and Nebraska's Watson on the first team while Frazier (Rutgers), Wehrle (Nebraska) and Rose (Michigan) each were named preseason third team All-Americans.
Both Notre Dame pitchers named to Roger Clemens Award watch list; Korpi also on watch list for Brooks Wallace player-of-the-year award.
Dec. 31, 2006
Notre Dame pitchers Wade Korpi and Kyle Weiland have received preseason honors for the 2007 college baseball season, as each was named to the watch list for the Roger Clemens Award (presented to the nation's top pitcher) while Korpi is on the watch list for the Brooks Wallace national player-of-the-year award. Notre Dame is one of just 13 teams with multiple pitchers on the Clemens watch list. In other preseason news, Notre Dame was included among Collegiate Baseball magazine's preseason top-40 rankings, checking in at 39th despite losing all three members of its weekend three-man rotation, All-America first baseman Craig Cooper, Academic All-America shortstop Greg Lopez and 12 total letterwinners from the 2006 team that went 45-17-1 and fashioned a team-record 23-game winning streak.
Korpi (Lake Worth, Fla.) is coming off a stellar sophomore season that included an MVP effort at the BIG EAST Championship, en route to finishing with a 2.00 season earned-run average that ranked 17th in the nation while his strikeout rate of 11.1 Ks per 9.0 innings ranked 15th in Division I. The lefthander's other 2006 season stats included a 7-2 record, a lowly .204 opponent batting average (55 hits allowed), a 3.5 K-to-walk ratio (94/27) and just three hit batters, one wild pitch and one home run allowed in 76.1 innings of work (14 appearances/12 starts). His 2.00 season ERA ranks 16th in the Notre Dame record book and is the eighth-best by an Irish pitcher since the early 1980s. Only six Notre Dame pitchers in the past 15 seasons have registered a lower season opponent batting average than Korpi, whose 11.08 Ks/9 IP represents the sixth-best season rate in the Irish record book (recent closer Ryan Doherty is the only ND pitcher since the mid-1960s with a higher single-season strikeout rate than Korpi).
Weiland (Albuquerque, N.M.) - a lanky 6-foot-4 righthander who finished third nationally with an ND-record 16 saves while compiling a 2.37 ERA for the Irish in 2006 - ranked among the nation's top freshmen in the '06 season, receiving top Freshman All-America honors from Baseball America , Collegiate Baseball and the The Rosenblatt Report/rivals.com while also being invited to the annual USA Baseball National Team trials. A second team all-BIG EAST selection in 2006, Weiland compiled a 2.37 season ERA that ranked fourth-best on the Irish staff while his 30 appearances were one shy of the Notre Dame freshman record (31) set by current big-leaguer Aaron Heilman in 1998 (when he led the nation with a 1.61 ERA). In addition to posting nearly a 2.5-to-1 strikeout-to-walk average (48/20) in 2006, Weiland logged 11 more innings (49.1) than hits allowed (39, with only one home run) and limited opponents to a .224 opponent batting average that ranks third-best ever by a Notre Dame freshman behind Heilman's .198 in '98 and the .201 allowed by Larry Mohs in '94. Weiland converted all but one of his save opportunities en route to nearly doubling Heilman's freshman save record (9) while his 16 saves were three better than the previous overall Irish record (13), set by J.P. Gagne in 2003.
Korpi - who served as the 2006 team's fourth starter - is expected to front a 2007 rotation that is young but highly promising, with other top options for starting pitcher roles in '07 including the likes of sophomores David Phelps, Brett Graffy and Sam Elam, junior Joey Williamson and freshman Eric Maust (who joins Korpi and Elam among the staff's top lefthanders). Weiland likely will return to the closer role but could be tried as a starter, pending various factors including the returns from their respective injuries by senior Dan Kapala and junior Tony Langford (both of whom missed the entire 2006 season).
Weiland is one of four returning Irish players who received all-BIG EAST honors, with that group also including three second-team honorees: junior shortstop Brett Lilley (who played third base his first two seasons), sophomore DH/first baseman Jeremy Barnes (a possible replacement for Cooper, after playing mostly as a DH/2B in '06) and senior outfielder Danny Dressman (the top option in center). Senior catcher Sean Gaston also returns for his third season as the starter behind the plate, with junior second baseman Ross Brezovsky back on the right side of the infield. Freshman A.J. Pollock has emerged as the leading option to fill Lilley's vacated third-base position while the top corner-outfield options include freshman Billy Boockford in right along with sophomore Ryan Connolly (who missed '06 due to injury) and freshman Brayden Ashdown in left. Switch-hitting senior Mike Dury and former Missouri State player Ryan Weglarz (now an MBA graduate student at Notre Dame) joins Barnes as the leading DH candidates, with lefthanded-hitting sophomore Ryan Sharpley another potential starter at first base.
Three of Notre Dam's 2007 opponents - Nebraska (9th), TCU (15th) and Michigan (38th) were included on the Collegiate Baseball preseason top-40, with four others (Stetson, Louisville, Central Michigan and Ball State) also receiving votes in consideration for those rankings.
Notre Dame's 2007 opponents include 16 players who are on the Wallace Award watch list, among them six other players from the BIG EAST Conference: Rutgers shortstop Todd Frazier, St. John's outfielder Chris Joachim, Louisville second baseman Logan Johnson, South Florida shortstop Addison Maruszak, Cincinnati righthander Steve Blevins and Seton Hall pitcher/DH Dan McDonald. Others include the Nebraska duo of shortstop Ryan Wehrle and pitcher Tony Watson, TCU pitcher Jake Arrieta, Stetson outfielder Shane Jordan, Michigan outfielder Eric Rose, Central Michigan outfielder Bryan Mitzel, Ball State first baseman Justin Rogers, Illinois-Chicago outfielder Larry Gempp, Prairie View A&M pitcher Wrandel Taylor and New York Tech DH/pitcher Joe Esposito.
In addition to Notre Dame, the other 12 teams that feature two pitchers on the Clemens Award watch list include Rice, Texas, Florida State , TCU, Tulane, Arkansas, Wichita State, Virginia, Pepperdine, UC Irvine, Ohio State and Army. Seven pitchers from Notre Dame's 2007 opponents are on the Clemens watch list, including the TCU duo of Arrieta and Garrison, Nebraska's Watson, Stetson's Robbie Elsemiller, Scott Barnes of St. John's, Michigan's Chris Fetter and Ball State's Kyle Heyne. Weiland joins Barnes and Fetter among the 14 sophomores who are on the Clemens watch list.
Five of Notre Dame's opposing players were named preseason All-Americans by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers, with TCU's Arrieta and Nebraska's Watson on the first team while Frazier (Rutgers), Wehrle (Nebraska) and Rose (Michigan) each were named preseason third team All-Americans.