Freshman starting pitcher T.J.Walz was named to the College Baseball Foundation's National All-Star Lineup this week. The award came after his impressive outing in Lincoln. On Sunday Walz pitched into the eighth inning and became the first Big-12 pitcher to earn a victory over the Huskers. Walz outing was made all the more noteworthy considering the game time conditions. The strong breeze took away Walz' most effective pitch, his curve, and forced him to make his secondary arsenal do the work. Following the game Walz received the most concrete form of praise available to an NCAA walk-on - Coach Price [Walz] is the first guy who'll get upgraded next fall to books and tuition [scholarship coverage].
For me at least, Walz has been the most unexpected contributor to the Hawks this year. He entered the season as a back-end middle reliever, overshadowed by three other first year Jayhawk pitchers, Sam Freeman, Brett Bollman and Shaeffer Hall. Surprisingly Walz emerged from this pack. On the season Walz has now pitched in 12 games, three as a starter. 38 Innings, 33 hits, 13/27 BB/K and a 4.03 ERA. T.J. will get the Sunday start in Stillwater this week. Let's hope his success continues.
Just a note. I am in a busy phase and will do my best to get an OSU series preview posted this afternoon, which is later than usual. On the off chance I cannot get a story posted first pitch tonight is at 6:30PM and the game will be covered live by KLWN AM-1320.