SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Santa Clara baseball's Reece Karalus is one of 50 players named to the mid-season watch list for the 10th annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, announced by the association Wednesday. The sophomore closer is one of only three West Coast Conference pitchers and one of only 16 underclassmen to make the list.
The North Bend, Wash. native is 4-1 with a 2.27 ERA, eight saves and 30 strikeouts in 31.2 innings between 22 relief appearances and one start this season. Karalus has collected five of those saves along with three wins in his last nine outings. He has struck out multiple batters 10 times, including a season-high four batters three times.
Karalus made three relief appearances for Santa Clara in its last WCC series April 17-19 at San Diego, finishing with two saves and a win in 4.2 innings as the Broncos swept the Toreros. The sophomore retired 14 of 16 batters he faced and did not allow a hit to a San Diego team that entered the weekend with a .331 batting average. On April 17, he struck out the final two batters he faced to earn his seventh save of the season. One night later, Karalus entered a one-run game with runners on first and third and one out in the eighth, and retired all five batters he faced to pick up his second save in as many nights as the Broncos won 2-1. In the series finale April 19, Karalus entered a 3-3 game in the 10th and retired six of the seven batters he faced, once again ending the game with a strikeout.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the Division I national saves leader and four other relief pitching standouts will be selected as finalists and released Wednesday, June 4, prior to start of NCAA Super Regional tournament competition.
Santa Clara (17-23, 8-7 WCC) hosts Loyola Marymount (24-7, 12-6 WCC) in a three-game series April 25-27 at Schott Stadium. First pitch times are as follows:
Friday, April 25: 6 p.m.
Saturday, April 26: 3 p.m.
Sunday, April 27: 1 p.m.
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